Intracranial haemorrhage in haemophilia A and B.
In countries with a good standard of health care, intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) during the neonatal period affects 3.5-4.0% of all haemophilia boys, which is considerably (40-80 times) higher than expected in the normal population. ICHs are also frequent after the neonatal period, affecting 3-10% of the haemophilia population who are mainly treated on demand. The risk is higher in inhibitor patients. Spontaneous haemorrhage is reported more frequently than trauma-induced haemorrhage in most studies. The prevalence of ICH in patients treated with a prophylactic regimen is not known. Although more frequent in younger patients, a substantial proportion of ICH occur in adults, suggesting that general risk factors because of age, such as hypertension, are increasingly important as the haemophiliac gets older. Some studies have reported a substantial proportion of ICH affecting patients with milder forms of haemophilia. The risk of ICH has to be considered when discussing treatment strategies for haemophilia patients.
Ljung
Rolf C R
RC
Department of Paediatrics, Lund University, University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden. rolf.ljung@med.lu.se
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006467:Hemophilia A / Q000150:complications*; D002836:Hemophilia B / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000379:methods