Investigation of kinesiophobia, physical activity, quality of life, depression and anxiety level in adult people with hemophilia: A frequency-matched case-control study.

BackgroundIn people with hemophilia(PwH) repeated joint bleeding leads to physical limitations.However, there may be some factors,such as fear of movement or kinesiophobia, which may decrease physical activity.All these may reduce psychological well-being, and quality-of-life(QoL) throughout the lifespan in PwH.ObjectiveFor this reason the aim of this study was to examine the presence of fear of movement, physical activity, depression and anxiety levels, and health-related QoL in PwH compared to healthy male controls.MethodsThis was an unmatched case-control study with age- and gender-matched group distributions (frequency matching) including 40 cases and 45 controls.Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia(TSK),International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short-Form(IPAQ-SF),Beck Depression Inventory(BDI),Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI) and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36) were used to evaluate the participants.ResultsThe average age of participants in the Hemophilia Group was 33.15 ± 10.02 years(range 18-50 years) and in the Control Group was 31.29 ± 8.72 years(range 18-50 years), with no statistically significant difference between the groups (p > 0.05).The results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test.When both groups were compared, a significant difference was found in TSK scores measured for kinesiophobia(p = 0.000,r = -0.51).PwH had significantly lower-scores in the General Health(p = 0.001,r = -0.37),Physical Functioning(p = 0.000,r = -0.64),Bodily Pain(reflecting higher pain levels)(p = 0.037,r = -0.23) and Role Physical(p = 0.016,r = -0.26) domains of QoL compared to the healthy subjects.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that PwH had significantly higher levels of kinesiophobia and lower health-related QoL in domains of General Health,Physical Functioning,Role Physical,and Bodily Pain compared to healthy controls.These findings highlight the need for a multidisciplinary approach to treatment in hemophilia patients, addressing not only joint health but also fear of movement and psychological factors.