Comparison of joint status in children with haemophilia A using ultrasound and physical examination

AbstractPurpose: This study aimed to compare assessments of joint status conducted by a physiotherapist using a clinical scoring system, Haemophilia Joint Health Score (HJHS 2.1), and an ultrasound-based scoring system, Haemophilia Early Arthropathy Detection with UltraSound (HEAD-US), for detecting early signs of haemophilic arthropathy.Materials and methods: The study group comprised 32 patients aged 6–17 years with a moderate or severe bleeding disorder, haemophilia A. The elbow, ankle and knee joints were evaluated using HJHS 2.1 and HEAD-US.Results: There was a strong correlation between total scores of the clinical scoring system and the ultrasound scoring system (rS =0.66, p < .01) for elbows and knees (rS = 0.57, p < .01 and rS = 0.76, p < .01, respectively). The correlation for ankles was substantially weaker (rS = 0.36, p = .04). The clinical scores correlated also with annual bleeding rate.Conclusions: The total and individual joint scores, especially for knees and elbows, using “Haemophilia Ea...