Lower physical activity and altered body composition in patients with haemophilia compared with healthy controls

Patients with haemophilia (PWH) have traditionally been discouraged from engaging in sports and strenuous exercise activities, due to the perceived risk of bleeding complications. This puts PWH at an increased risk to become overweight or obese. However, the benefits of many forms of physical activity seem to outweigh their risks, although activities with significant trauma risk should be avoided.

To evaluate physical activity patterns and body composition of adult PWH.

This cross-sectional study compared data on physical activity from tri-axial accelerometers and body composition of 18 male adult PWH (aged 18-49 years) on prophylactic replacement therapy and without acute joint bleedings to those of 24 healthy age-matched controls, by means of Mann-Whitney-U-Tests.

Median moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was significantly (p = .000) lower in PWH (34.6 min/day) than in healthy controls (65.2 min/day). Body mass index was almost similar between PWH and controls (25.1 vs 24.2 kg/m² , p = .431). Yet, we found a consistent trend towards less desirable outcomes across body composition parameters, such as median body fat rate (23.5 vs 17.0%, p = .055) in PWH, compared with controls.

Although physical activity has been recommended for PWH since the mid-1970s, the physical activity engagement of adult PWH was still severely limited, possibly due to over-cautiousness but presumably also in consequence of chronic pain. Poor physical activity engagement may well be expected to contribute to the increased body fat and decreased leg muscle mass. Consequently, policies should focus on improving the knowledge and motivation of PWH to engage in health-enhancing physical activity.