Medical Care for Athletes with Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a hereditary disease characterized by impaired coagulability of the blood resulting from either decreased production or decreased functional activity of a coagulation factor.1 The most common hereditary coagulation disorder is hemophilia A, which occurs in about 1 in every 10,000 males. This disorder results from a gene defect on the X chromosome that causes partial or complete deficiency of Factor VIII coagulant activity. Because hemophilia A is an X-linked recessive disorder, it affects males, who only have one X chromosome, and is carried by females, who sometimes show a lesser tendency to bleed, because females have two X chromosomes and the disorder is recessive. Although hemophilia A is known as an inherited disorder, nearly 30% of individuals with it have no prior family history, in which case it is most likely the result of spontaneous genetic mutation.1,2 Hemophilia B (Christmas disease) and hemophilia C (Rosenthal syndrome) involve partial or complete deficiency of Factors IX and XI, respectively. These disorders are not as common as hemophilia A, occurring in 1 in every 100,000 males.1 Clinical symptoms for both conditions include hemorrhage and hemarthrosis. Management Plan for Athletes With Hemophilia