OBJECTIVES : The treatment of hemophilia A (HA) poses a great burden on the National Health Insurance (NHI) system in Taiwan. In order to optimize health care planning, this study aimed to provide updated information about the epidemiology and treatment patterns of HA in Taiwan.

METHODS : Patients with HA were first identified in the NHI research database, and only those who had a record of HA in the Registry for Catastrophic Illness were included in the analysis. Patients who were newly diagnosed with HA from 2013 to 2017 were identified, and those who were born in those years were defined as incidence cases. Patents who with an HA diagnosis were defined as prevalence cases in each particular year. Mortality of HA patients from 2013 to 2017 was also estimated. Moreover, the proportion of patients who received prophylactic, rather than on-demand, clotting factor replacement therapy among prevalence cases was analysed.

RESULTS : We identified 92 patients who were newly diagnosed with HA. The number of incidence cases was 3 to 13 per year, and the incidence rates were 3.0 to 11.7 per 100,000 male new-borns. The number of prevalence cases was 704 to 764 per year, and the prevalence rates were 6.0 to 6.5 per 100,000 male beneficiaries. Annual mortalities were 3 to 8 per year, resulting in mortality rates of 3.9 to 10.5 per 1,000 male HA patients. The proportion of prophylactic therapy use among prevalence cases slightly increased from 27.0% in 2013 to 33.0% in 2017.

CONCLUSIONS : This study provides a better understanding of the epidemiology and treatment patterns of HA in Taiwan. The results could also be used for comparison with those in other countries and also provide essential information for the estimation of the disease’s burden.