Adults with congenital bleeding disorders
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Susan M. Peterson
Abstract
Patients suffering from hemophilia have been affected by two recent major events. First, the advent of lyophilized factor concentrates during the 1960–1970s greatly lessened the morbidity of moderate and severe disease. Hemophilia patients were freed frequent trips to emergency rooms, prolonged hospitalizations and dependence on transfusions of blood products. Their quality of life improved and Hemophilia Treatment Centers were established throughout the US to provide comprehensive medical and psychosocial care. Second, members of the hemophilia community who had now hoped for a more normal life began to experience the opportunistic infections that were ultimately understood as the sentinel signs of AIDS. When scientists identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its mode of transmission via plasma-derived clotting factor concentrates became evident. By 1984, 50% of all individuals with hemophilia had become infected with the HIV virus. In 1980, hemophilia life expectancy was almost 68 years of age, but declined to 49 years in the late 1980s. An entire generation of adult hemophilia patients became affected by the HIV epidemic and also the hepatitis C virus. Currently, there is a growing number of young adults with hemophilia, born after 1990, where hemophilia factor replacement therapy has proven to be safe. The risk of acquiring an infection through the use of these factors is extremely low; the last documented concentrate mediated HIV transmission occurred in 1987. The challenge remains to prevent the crippling effects of hemophilia while focusing attention on the health and wellness of these individuals.
©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Adults with childhood illness
- Reviews
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Epidemiology, assessment, and treatment among children, adolescents, and adults
- Caring for adults with cystic fibrosis
- Childhood asthma in adults
- Cyanotic congenital heart defects in adult patients
- Obstructive and regurgitant cardiac lesions in adults who had childhood heart disease
- Adults with left-to-right cardiac shunts and with shunts treated in childhood
- Transition of pediatric endocrine patients to adult care
- Adolescents and adults with inborn errors of metabolism
- Adults who had kidney disease in childhood
- Adult survivors of childhood cancer
- Adults with genetic syndromes
- Adult considerations of pediatric urologic care
- Adult patients with childhood anemias
- Disabled women and reproductive healthcare in the United States
- Children with allergic disease as adults
- Adults with congenital bleeding disorders
- Aging with intellectual disability. Current health issues
- Short Communication
- Transition from pediatric to adult care: social and family issues
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial
- Adults with childhood illness
- Reviews
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Epidemiology, assessment, and treatment among children, adolescents, and adults
- Caring for adults with cystic fibrosis
- Childhood asthma in adults
- Cyanotic congenital heart defects in adult patients
- Obstructive and regurgitant cardiac lesions in adults who had childhood heart disease
- Adults with left-to-right cardiac shunts and with shunts treated in childhood
- Transition of pediatric endocrine patients to adult care
- Adolescents and adults with inborn errors of metabolism
- Adults who had kidney disease in childhood
- Adult survivors of childhood cancer
- Adults with genetic syndromes
- Adult considerations of pediatric urologic care
- Adult patients with childhood anemias
- Disabled women and reproductive healthcare in the United States
- Children with allergic disease as adults
- Adults with congenital bleeding disorders
- Aging with intellectual disability. Current health issues
- Short Communication
- Transition from pediatric to adult care: social and family issues
