The current state of Hemophilia

Hemophilia affects 1 in 5,000 male births and about 400 babies are born with hemophilia each year. It is estimated that about 17,000 Americans have Hemophilia. Hemophilia is slightly more common amongst Caucasians in comparison to other races as demonstrated by Soucie et al. (1998) study; “the prevalence by race/ethnicity was 13.2 cases per 100,000 white, 11.0% among African American, and 11.5% among Hispanic males.” 

The average life expectancy of a male with Hemophilia is approximately 10 years shorter than an unaffected male. In comparison, the average life expectancy of a male with Hemophilia in the 1980's was 50-60 years. The biggest threat to those with Hemophilia is HIV/AIDS acquired by being treated with contaminated blood products, followed by hepatitis infections and soft tissue hemorrhage which obstruct air and blood flow. Additionally, some hemophiliacs develop an immune response called inhibitors against the replacement coagulation factors, which thus require the individual to receive a greater amount of factor or an alternative non human factor, such as pig coagulation factor.

At the moment Hemophilia treatment is very expensive. Cost for annual treatment can range from $60,000, to as much as $1,000,000. The common method of treatment for Hemophilia is the prophylactic treatment plan. This plan requires an intravenous(IV) infusion  3x a week and cost up to $3000 per treatment. Cost can further be complicated due to patients creating an immune tolerance to the treatment and forming inhibitors. 

References:

Hemophilia Overview eMedicine from webMD. Dimitrios P Agaliotis, MD, PhD, FACP, Robert A Zaiden, MD, Fellow, and Saduman Ozturk, PA-C. Updated: 24 November 2009.

"Hemophilia Medical Coverage." Homecare for the Cure. N.p., 2013. Web. 06 Aug. 2014.

Soucie, J. M., Evatt, B., Jackson, D., Hemophilia Surveillance System Project Investigators. Occurrence of hemophilia in the United States. Am. J. Hemat. 59: 288-294, 1998