Improvement in pain-related quality of life in patients with hemophilia A treated with rFVIIIFc individualized prophylaxis: post hoc analysis from the A-LONG study

BACKGROUND: Pain, a common symptom of hemophilia, begins early in life primarily due to joint bleeding. Recurrent bleeding adversely affects patients’ pain-related physical functioning, which can negatively impact their quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVE: Post hoc analysis of data from the A-LONG study (NCT01181128), to assess change over time in pain-related QoL in patients with severe hemophilia A treated prophylactically with recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein (rFVIIIFc). METHODS: Patients who completed Haem-A-QoL (17–65 years) and EQ-5D-3L (⩾12–65 years) questionnaires at baseline (BL) and end of study (EoS). Individual-level changes were assessed using three pain-related items of the Haem-A-QoL ‘Physical Health’ domain and the pain/discomfort item of EQ-5D-3L. Distributions of responses (EoS versus BL) were compared using McNemar’s test. RESULTS: A significantly greater proportion of patients reported they did not experience painful swellings (n = 87; 66% versus 46%, p < 0.01) or pain in their joints (n = 89; 42% versus 27%; p < 0.05) at EoS versus BL. The proportion of patients who did not find it painful to move numerically increased at EoS versus BL (n = 86; 47% versus 38%; p = NS). A significantly greater proportion of patients reported no pain/discomfort at EoS versus BL (n = 116; 45% versus 34%; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study reports the effect of FVIII prophylaxis on patient-reported measures of pain over time in patients with severe hemophilia A. The results of this post hoc analysis showed improvements in pain from BL to EoS in patients receiving rFVIIIFc individualized prophylaxis indicating effective pain management, a key component of patient care.