Objective: This study explores the efficacy of recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) low-dose prophylaxis in Chinese pediatric patients with severe hemophilia A from the Retrospective Study in Chinese Pediatric Hemophilia A Patients With rFVIII Contained Regular Prophylaxis (ReCARE) population.
Methods: This is additional analysis of the multicenter, retrospective ReCARE study, in which the annual bleeding rate (ABR), annual joint bleeding rate (AJBR), and safety of >12-week, low dose (10-30 IU/kg/wk) rFVIII prophylaxis divided into primary, secondary, and tertiary groups based on the joint status and joint bleeding history were analyzed.
Results: A total of 57 patients (median age: 8.2 [0.4-17.3] years) from the ReCARE study receiving primary (n = 3), secondary (n = 21), and tertiary (n = 33) prophylaxes were included. Low-dose prophylaxis had significant bleeding reduction in all 3 groups compared to the baseline ( S = 408.5, P < .001), with median ABR rates of -4.0 (-8.0 to -3.1), -4.0 (-24.0 to 8.0), and -13.9 (-110.6 to 20.6) in the primary, secondary, and tertiary groups, respectively, with a significant difference between the secondary and tertiary groups ( P = .008). Median AJBR reduction rates were -2.3 (-6.3 to 8.4) and -14.9 (-61.5 to 19.1) in the secondary and tertiary groups, respectively. But there was no significant difference in AJBRs between the secondary and tertiary groups ( P = .061), which was related to damaged joint status. Hence, longer prophylaxis was associated with better prevention of joint bleeding ( P = .024).
Conclusion: Despite significant ABR/AJBR reduction in all 3 groups, the efficacy of the primary prophylaxis was better than the secondary and tertiary prophylaxes.
Keywords: China; annual bleeding rate; annual joint bleeding rate; low-dose prophylaxis; rFVIII-FS; severe hemophilia A.