Emerging issues on comprehensive hemophilia care: preventing, identifying, and monitoring age-related comorbidities

Abstract

Life expectancy for persons with hemophilia (PWH) has considerably increased in the last decades as a direct result of the availability of modern therapies to control the clotting defect. Because their life expectancy now matches that of the general population, PWH are experiencing age-related comorbidities, such as, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, renal diseases, sexuality issues, malignancies, and neurologic problems, that until recently have been rarely seen in this group of patients. In this article, we present a summary of the current knowledge on the aging PWH along with the clinical approaches that may be integrated into the routine comprehensive care of these patients for preventing, diagnosing, and monitoring age-related comorbidities. In general, patients with and without hemophilia should receive similar care, with close collaboration between the physician treating PWH and the specialty expert treating the comorbid disease.