Hemophilia is an autosomal recessive disease linked to the X chromosome caused by the mutation in the gene F8 or F9. It is a chronic, progressive and high-cost disease. The annual incidence is 1 in 5,000 births and the prevalence is estimated at 1 in 12,000 worldwide.

OBJECTIVES to estimate the direct costs of a cohort of patients with Hemophilia affiliated with a health insurer in Colombia during the years 2010-2017.

METHODS A retrospective study of a dynamic cohort of 176 patients distributed in 15 cities of the country, affiliated with a health insurer in Colombia, was carried out during 6 years. Demographic characteristics, average annual costs per health service and per patient were estimated. Costs were adjusted for inflation and expressed in US dollars for the year 2017.

RESULTS

Prevalence of Hemophilia type A and B for men was (4.5 and 1.1) and for women (1.2 and 0.04) per 100,000 members respectively. Average age was 23.1 years (SD 18.2) for Hemophilia A and 17.3 years (SD 13.8) for Hemophilia B. The cities with the highest concentration of patients were Bogotá (38.6%), Barranquilla (17.0%) and Bucaramanga (11.3%). Average cost of annual care for patients in the cohort was USD 4,191,993 (SD 1,164,282) for Hemophilia A USD 886,214 (SD 194,882) for Hemophilia B, distributed mainly in: Clotting Factors (93.8%), package of clinical services (including laboratories, diagnostic imaging, hematology, home care etc.) (5.1%), hospitalization (0.4%), surgery (0.1%), dentistry (0.1%) and others (0.5%). The average cost per patient annual was $ 42,226 (SD 8,663) for Hemophilia A and $ US 38,594 (SD 16,889) for Hemophilia B.

CONCLUSIONS The annual average cost per patient of Hemophilia A and B in the evaluated cohort corresponds to the annual per capita premium of 167 and 153 patients respectively, for the year 2017.