Abstract

Objective: Carriers of hemophilia may have an increased bleeding tendency even if they have normal factor VIII levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the bleeding tendency with using a Bleeding Assessment Tool (BAT) in first-degree relatives of hemophilia A patients and to compare with women without family history of hemophilia or other bleeding disorders. 

Material and Methods: First-degree relatives of hemophilia A patients (study group) were investigated prospectively evaluated and compared them with women without a family history of hemophilia or other bleeding disorders (controls group), including factor VIII levels, coagulation parameters and bleeding scores.

Results: The study included 30 women in the study group and 30 women in the control group. The mean FVIII levels in the study group and control group were 75.95±34.88 IU/m L and 112.83±25.44 IU/mL, respectively. In the study group, one woman had a moderate factor VIII deficiency (factor VIII level was 5 IU/mL). In addition, 4 women were found to have Factor VIII level between 5-39 IU/mL (24, 31, 36, and 39 IU/mL) which was compatible with mild factor VIII deficiency. Menorrhagia was the most common type of bleeding in the study group (83.3%), followed by cutaneous (60%) and oral cavity bleedings (56.6%). Menorrhagia, oral cavity bleeding and epistaxis were significantly more frequent in the study group compared to the control group (p<0.001, p<0.001, and p<0.001, respectively). No correlation was found between factor VIII level and bleeding score.

Conclusion: Our study showed that first-degree female relatives of hemophiliacs experienced at least one bleeding episode during their lifetime, regardless of factor VIII levels. Therefore, careful collection of bleeding histories in female relatives of hemophiliacs may help determine the necessary treatment methods to reduce mucosal and gynecologic bleeding.

Keywords: Bleeding tendency, Epistaxis, Hemophilia, Menorrhagia

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Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Genç EE, Güzelküçük Z, Koşan Çulha V, Işık M, Gürlek Gökçebay D, Özbek NY. Evaluation of the bleeding symptoms in first-degree female relatives of patients with hemophilia A. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2025 Jul. 2 [cited 2025 Jul. 7];:1-6. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/1109