ARKANSAS: Estimating Bone Health Among Hemophilia Carriers and von Willebrand Disease Patients

In the US, approximately 1.5 million individuals experience bone fractures related to osteoporosis each year. In addition to this being a major public health concern, it poses a significant financial burden.

Recently, issues with bone health have gained attention around how they relate to bleeding disorders. Individuals with hemophilia tend to have low bone mineral density that’s believed to be a consequence of prolonged immobility, recurrent hemarthrosis, decreased weight bearing, lower physical activity level and obesity.

While there’s some literature relating to bone health and hemophilia, there’s a lack of understanding around impaired bone health in individuals with von Willebrand disease (vWD) and those who are hemophilia carriers (HC). This motivated investigators to estimate the prevalence of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and bone fractures in these individuals.

Research led by Divyaswathi Citla-Sridha at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences found people with von Willebrand disease or hemophilia have significantly higher risks for osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and bone fractures than the general population. Ten risk factors, including vitamin D deficiency, obesity, hypothyroidism, smoking and use of corticosteroids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, were more prevalent in cases, compared with controls.