Current gynaecological management of women and girls with bleeding disorders in the <scp>United Kingdom</scp> : A <scp>UKHCDO</scp> haemophilia treatment centre survey and evaluation of real‐world clinical practice for the <i>British Journal of Haema
Girls and women with bleeding disorders (GWBD) comprise more than half of all registered patients with bleeding disorders in the UK National Haemophilia Database. The gynaecological care of GWBD, until recently, has not been prioritised despite high health burdens, where four of every five patients experience heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB). We report the results of a national survey exploring gynaecological health-care services offered across haemophilia centres in the United Kingdom, with a focus on HMB. We combine these results with a retrospective cohort analysis of individual patient care records, across a 3-year period. Of 65 haemophilia centres, 41 responded, covering 90% of the UK GWBD population. Six hundred and ninety-seven individual patient care records were included, from 13 centres. Our results show that immediate clinical care offered to GWBD experiencing HMB is adequate, despite infrastructure deficiencies (such as lack of joint-gynaecology input and few centres having named clinical leads for GWBD). We recommend several areas for immediate prioritisation within haemophilia centres which will improve the equity of care for GWBD. These include direct access to gynaecological services; universal testing of iron status; and more broadly, a shift towards clinical practices that recognise and address the impact HMB has on patients' psycho-social, sexual and overall quality of life.
Authors
- Gary Benson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4269-8713)
- Nina Rahimi
- Helen Campbell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2070-7794)
- Nicola Curry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3849-0688)
- Ana Monteiro Barros e Carvalhosa
- Gillian Lowe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2527-9557)
- Cynthia Warren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3043-4275)
- Clare Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1890-2817)
- Luís Gustavo Abdalla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8785-6068)
- Laura Knox
- Sarah Garside
- Claire Lentaigne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0406-4776)
- Imogen Swart‐Rimmer
- Priyanka Raheja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6365-2899)
- Rezan A. Kadir (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2684-1006)
- Jayna J. Mistry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6338-0248)
- Joe T.R. Clarke
- C C Harris
Institutions
- University of Ulster (GB)
- Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Birmingham City Hospital (GB)
- Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GB)
- University Hospital of Wales (GB)
- Royal London Hospital (GB)
- Belfast City Hospital (GB)
- University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- The Edgbaston Hospital (GB)
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital (GB)
- Kings Health Partners (GB)
- The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (GB)
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (GB)
- NIHR Research Delivery Network (GB)
- Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (GB)
- University College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- British Journal of Haematology
- Published
- 2025-12-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.70295
- Primary Topic
- Hemophilia Treatment and Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00