Comparing Health Outcomes for Women and Girls with Hemophilia and No Bleeding Disorder – Insights from the Patient Reported Outcomes Burdens and Experiences (PROBE) Study

Skinner M. W., Kucher A., Clearfield E., Curtis R. G., Germini F., Iorio A., Nichol M., Page D., Stonebraker J. Development of Women, Girls, and People Who Have or Had the Potential to Menstruate (WGPPM) questionnaire for PROBE study. (2025), Book of Abstracts. Haemophilia, 31: 21-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/hae.70032

Objective

There is limited comparative quality-of-life (QoL) data for women and girls with hemophilia A or B who have the potential to menstruate (WGwH). To advance management and treatment it is essential to collect patient-reported health outcomes data.  The validated PROBE questionnaire collects health-related QoL data from WGwH, including carriers, and women and girls who have the potential to mensurate without a bleeding disorder (NoBD) who serve as a control group. We compared the QoL of WGwH with NoBD.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study from the PROBE database. We included WGwH ≥ age 13 who self-reported hemophilia A or B, as a carrier with a factor level <40%, or NoBD that were identified in the PROBE database. We used descriptive statistics to provide a summary of participant characteristics (Table 1).

Results

From 2015 to 2024, 232 WGwH indicated that they had severe (n=70), moderate (n=26) or mild (n=136) factor deficiency and 407 NoBD were available for comparison. Prophylaxis use was 65.71% in WGwH classified as severe, 19.23% in moderate, and 5.15% in mild. Use of mobility aids was 14.29% in severe, 38.46% in moderate, 14.71% in mild WGwH, and 8.85% in NoBD. Participants with moderate and mild hemophilia reported that this condition impacted important QoL metrics for: chronic pain (CP), target/problem joints (TJ/PJ), reduced joint range of motion (ROM) and difficulties with activities of daily living (ADL) (CP 61.54%, 44.85%; TJ/PJ 50%, 21.32%; ROM 50.0%, 19.85%; ADL 46.15%, 21.32% respectively). See Table 1.

Conclusions

Our study suggests a worse QoL for WGwH compared to NoBD, with a worsening trend with increasing severity. This analysis confirms prior research (Chai-Adisakosopha Haemophilia 2020) showing that non-severe hemophilia is not benign.  WGwH are affected by their bleeding disorders. PROBE data collection for WGwH and further analysis are on-going.

Table 1. Participant Characteristics
Severe Moderate Mild No BD
n1 70 26 136 407
Age (SD) 37.19 (11.52) 41.69 (14.77) 45.09 (14.83) 44.58 (14.75)
Years of education (SD) 15.87 (4.87) 15.4 (3.88) 15.84 (4.5) 16.87 (4.47)
Hemophilia A1 65 (92.86%) 21 (80.77%) 118 (86.76%) n/a
Regular prophylaxis 46 (65.71%) 5 (19.23%) 7 (5.15%) n/a
Intermediate prophylaxis 5 (7.14%) 8 (30.77%) 7 (5.15%) n/a
Episodic (On-demand) treatment 12 (17.14%) 7 (26.92%) 64 (47.06%) n/a
No treatment available 3 (4.29%) 4 (15.38%) 36 (26.47%) n/a
Married 50 (71.43%) 19 (73.08%) 97 (71.32%) 304 (74.69%)
Have children 56 (80.0%) 19 (73.08%) 107 (78.68%) 284 (69.78%)
Used a mobility aid or assistive device (past 12 months) 10 (14.29%) 10 (38.46%) 20 (14.71%) 36 (8.85%)
Reported acute pain (past 12 months) 30 (42.86%) 15 (57.69%) 73 (53.68%) 149 (36.61%)
Reported chronic pain (past 12 months) 27 (38.57%) 16 (61.54%) 61 (44.85%) 158 (38.82%)
Currently have a Target Joint(s) or Problem Joint(s)2 30 (42.86%) 13 (50.0%) 29 (21.32%) n/a
Report chronic pain in a Target Joint(s) or Problem Joint(s)2 18 (60%) 7 (53.85%) 15 (65.52%) n/a
Currently have Joint(s) with reduced Range of Motion (ROM) 29 (41.43%) 13 (50.0%) 27 (19.85%) n/a
Ever had Joint Surgery or Other Invasive Procedure 23 (32.86%) 15 (57.69%) 59 (43.38%) 129 (31.7%)
Current difficulty with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) affected 21 (30.0%) 12 (46.15%) 29 (21.32%) 70 (17.2%)
Unemployed or on long-term disability (not a student) 5 (7.14%) 3 (11.54%) 3 (2.21%) 15 (3.69%)
Working full or part-time 39 (55.71%) 5 (19.23%) 87 (63.97%) 239 (58.72%)
Retired 3 (4.29%) 2 (7.69%) 15 (11.03%) 40 (9.83%)
Stay at home parent 11 (15.71%) 2 (7.69%) 8 (5.88%) 39 (9.58%)
Student (full or part-time) 13 (18.57%) 4 (15.38%) 14 (10.29%) 52 (12.78%)
Average days missed school or work due to health (SD) 29.74 (86.41) 24.8 (72.62) 15.45 (49.03) 10.5 (48.13)
EQ-5D-5L 0.867 0.806 0.650 0.897
PROBE Score 0.848 0.766 0.817 0.872
Annual Bleed Rate
0 17 (24.29%) 4 (15.38%) 74 (54.41%) n/a
1 5 (7.14%) 2 (7.69%) 24 (17.65%) n/a
2-3 23 (32.86%) 7 (26.92%) 15 (11.03%) n/a
4-7 9 (12.86%) 5 (19.23%) 11 (8.09%) n/a
8-10 3 (4.29%) 4 (15.38%) 0 n/a
11-15 4 (5.71%) 2 (7.69%) 3 (2.21%) n/a
16-30 4 (5.71%) 1 (3.85%) 4 (2.94%) n/a
More than 30 3 (4.29%) 0 2 (1.47%) n/a
Bleeding in the past 2 weeks 25 (35.71%) 7 (26.92%) 16 (11.76%) n/a
Life threatening bleed (past 12 months) 10 (14.29%) 5 (19.23%) 4 (2.94%) n/a
1. WGwH who self-report having hemophilia or as carriers with a factor level <40.

2. Beginning with PROBE questionnaire Version 3, the generic question asking about target joints was revised to ask about ‘Problem Joint(s)’.  A Problem Joint is defined as having chronic joint pain and/or limited range of movement due to compromised joint integrity (e.g. chronic synovitis and/or hemophilic arthropathy), with or without persistent bleeding.

Oral Presentation: HERE

Initial results of the impact of valoctocogene roxaparvovec on pain occurrence and interference: Insights from PROBE

Skinner M, Chen E, Kucher A, Germini F, Karimi M, Clearfield E , O’Mahony B , Jain M. Initial results of the impact of valoctocogene roxaparvovec on pain occurrence and interference: Insights from PROBE. (2023), CCS_Book of abstracts. Haemophilia, 29: 3-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/hae.14781

Introduction

People with severe haemophilia A (PwSHA) commonly present with intramuscular bleeding and hemarthrosis, leading to acute and chronic pain with an overall reduction in health-related quality of life. Here, we report the occurrence of pain in PwSHA before and 2 years after administration of valoctocogene roxaparvovec, and its interference on daily life.

Methods

The Patient Reported Outcomes, Burdens and Experiences (PROBE) questionnaire was included in the phase 3, open-label, single-arm study (GENEr8-1) as a tertiary endpoint to assess the effect of a single 6 × 1013 vg/kg dose of valoctocogene roxaparvovec on patient-reported health and life experiences. While further validation to understand the performance of PROBE in this context of use is ongoing, this study summarized pain-related outcomes collected within the PROBE questionnaire. This analysis evaluated PROBE completions at baseline and 104 weeks post gene therapy, including any occurrence of acute and chronic pain (recall: 12 months) and during eight activities (walking, stair climbing, nighttime, resting, weight bearing, playing, after falling/trauma, other). Participants also reported pain interference in 11 aspects of life (general activity, mood, walking ability, normal work, attending school, relations with others, sleep, enjoyment of life, playing/participating in sports/exercising, lifting, other). Descriptive statistics including 95% confidence intervals (CI) were presented at baseline and Week 104.

Results

Data were available for 124 participants at baseline and 129 at 104 weeks. Median age was 34 (range 21−73 years). Reporting of acute and chronic pain was reduced post gene therapy (acute pain: 60.5% to 41.9%, chronic pain: 65.3% to 57.0%). At 104 weeks, the aggregate instances of self-reported acute pain occurrence decreased from 151 (15.2%) to 113 (10.9%) across the 8 activities (including ‘Other’) [Table 1]. Chronic pain reduced from 238 (24.0%) to 216 (20.9%) [Table 2]. At 104 weeks, the aggregate instances of self-reported acute pain interference decreased from 294 (21.4%) to 204 (14.4%) across the 11 activities (including ‘Other’) [Table 3]. Chronic pain interference was reduced from 332 (24.3%) to 262 (18.5%) [Table 3 and 4].

Conclusions

Initial analysis of PROBE data demonstrates that gene therapy may be associated with a decrease in self-reported acute and chronic pain occurrence and interference with daily life in the study cohort.  Pain is one of the core outcomes of importance to people with haemophilia. The impact of gene therapy on pain, particularly chronic pain as demonstrated from PROBE, a haemophilia-specific tool, has important implications on treatment decision-making and continued disease management.

Disclosures

Er Chen: Bio Marin Pharmaceutical Inc.; Federico Germini: Bayer Bio Marin Pharmaceutical Inc., Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche, Takeda; Mohit Jain: Bio Marin Pharmaceutical Inc.; Milad Karimi: Bio Marin Pharmaceutical Inc.;

Brian O’Mahony BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.CSL Behring; Mark Skinner: Bayer, Bio Marin Pharmaceutical Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield, ICERMASACNHFNORD, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche/Genentech, Spark, Takeda, WFH, USA

Oral Presentation: HERE