Haemophilia A: health and economic burden of a rare disease in Portugal

Abstract

Background Haemophilia A is a hereditary bleeding disorder, which has been considered rare and chronic. The burden of this disease in Portugal remains unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the annualized cost and health burden of haemophilia A in Portugal. Methods Data were extracted from a Portuguese expert panel, from official data and national literature. Annual costs were calculated from the perspective of the society including direct and indirect costs. Unitary costs were extracted from 2017 national official sources and are expressed in euros. Health burden was expressed in disability adjusted life years (DALYs) based on incidence and quality of life questionnaires. Estimates are presented for the overall population and stratified by severity, age group (< 18 years vs. adults) and inhibitor status. Results The yearly average cost per patient is estimated to range from €39,654/patient without inhibitors and €302,189/patient with inhibitors, representing a 7.6 fold difference. Amongst patients without inhibitors, the annual average cost was €401 in mild, €5327 in moderate and €85,805 in severe disease. Average cost per child and adult is €72,287 and €51,737, respectively. Direct costs represent approximately 95% of all costs, of which almost the totality accounts for clotting factor replacement therapy and bypassing agents. The total annual cost of haemophilia A for the Portuguese society was estimated to be €42,66 million, one third of which was related to the treatment of patients with inhibitors. It is estimated that haemophilia A is responsible for 3878 DALYs in Portugal (497 DALYs in mild, 524 DALYs in moderate, 2031 DALYs in severe patients without inhibitors and 784 DALYs in patients with inhibitors) for the cohort of 2017 (750 patients) or 5.2 DALY/patient during lifetime. Conclusions Despite being rare, the economic and health burden of haemophilia A is remarkable. The main cost driver is clotting factor replacement therapy. Moreover, haemophilia A is more costly in children than in adults and rises exponentially with disease severity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13023-019-1175-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Patients with haemophilia A experience a significant disease burden due to spontaneous bleeding into joints or muscles, leading to pain, swelling, arthropathy and even life-threatening events such as intracranial haemorrhage. [1][2][3][4] According to a recent meta-analysis conducted by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH), the global prevalence of haemophilia A is 17.1 cases per 100,000 males, with 6.0 cases per 100,000 males for severe haemophilia A. 5 In China, however, a notably lower prevalence was reported in a meta-analysis conducted in 2014 (4.2 cases per 100,000 males), which might be due to underreporting.…”

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