Health-related quality of life in chronic coagulation disorders

Measurement of health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) is used in patients with haemophilia as a way of assessing the effectiveness of health care, especially as cure is not possible. We report the first such study on patients with chronic coagulation disorders in Australia, using The RAND 36-item Health Survey 1.0 (SF-36), a standardized validated questionnaire combined with a semistructured interview. The mean scores for the eight domains of the SF-36 ranged from 52.5 +/- 42.1 for physical role to 80.0 +/- 20.0 for social functioning. Comparison with normative data obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) demonstrated a reduction in all domains in this population with statistically significant reductions in general health, physical role limitation and vitality. Comparison with other studies indicates that the HR-QoL of patients with haemophilia and von Willebrand's disorder in Australia is comparable with other Western countries, reflecting the overall similar quality of care available to these patients. This study also provides a good cross-sectional view of the psychosocial factors of life in patients in Australia and recognizes the positive family support available to this population, while raising relevant shortcomings in schools and at the workplace that need to be studied further in a controlled manner.