Sport and Physical Activity Benefit Hemophiliacs
Sport and physical activity are beneficial for individuals with hemophilia. This statement was confirmed by a study conducted by German and British authors published in the journal Haemophilia.
Introduction
Hemophilia is accompanied by excessive bleeding. In many patients, this leads to joint damage associated with chronic pain and limited mobility, which can further worsen with additional bleeding. All of this can limit the willingness to engage in sports or regularly partake in physical activity. Physical activity, however, can help many individuals with hemophilia and already developed joint damage to improve mobility, subsequently affecting quality of life, mental health, and also improving disease symptoms. This has been demonstrated, among other things, by a study focused on health-related quality of life in people with hemophilia.
Patient Cohort
The study was conducted in 4 hemophilia centers and followed 50 adult hemophiliacs, with an average patient age of 35 years. Most of them (70%) had hemophilia A and included men with mild (n = 12), moderately severe (n = 10), and severe (n = 28) forms of the disease. Almost two-thirds (64%) were overweight according to BMI. The median orthopedic joint score according to WFH was 6 (range 0–48), and the pain score on the visual analog scale (VAS) was 5.66 ± 2.4. One third of participants reported that they did not engage in sports at all due to their physical condition. The others stated that they engaged in sports, on average, 2 times a week for an average of 4 hours per week.
Results and Conclusion
As expected, sports activities improved health-related quality of life, mostly statistically insignificantly, except for the domain concerning sports and leisure time. Additionally, the study showed that spending more than 4 hours a week in sports had a significantly greater impact on improving quality of life compared to shorter durations.
The authors concluded that supporting individuals with hemophilia in regular sports and physical activity has a direct positive effect on their health-related quality of life. An active lifestyle involving sports should be part of routine hemophilia care.
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Source: von Mackensen S., Harrington C., Tuddenham E. et al. The impact of sport on health status, psychological well-being and physical performance of adults with haemophilia. Haemophilia 2016; 22 (4): 521–530, doi: 10.1111/hae.12912.
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