Introduction:

Hemophilia is the most common congenital hemorrhagic disorder in males. Patients with severe disease may have spontaneous bleeding leading to disability.

Objective:

To describe the bleedings and clinical features of children diagnosed with hemophilia and treated in a reference center in Bogotá.

Methodology:

Descriptive study of a case series of children (under 18 years) diagnosed with hemophilia, between May 1st and December 31th 2014.

Results:

Fifty-one patients were included, 33/51 experienced 109 bleedings. Most common type were hemarthrosis and children with inhibitory antibodies had more bleeding episodes. Twenty-two patients had severe hemophilia, 18 moderate and 11 mild. In 18 of 22 severe patients, there were 87 bleeding episodes. 14/33 patients with arthropathy (77%) experienced 74 bleeding events while the rest referred only 35. Patients between 5 to 9 years old had the highest frequency of bleeding. Among the 81 traumatic episodes, most frequent activities were playing and sport practicing; there were 19 spontaneous bleedings and nine were related to procedures. 89 bleeds occurred during school days and 25 on vacation. At the time of bleeding, in 76 episodes, patients were accompanied by family members.

Conclusions:

Bleeding was more frequent in children with severe disease, with arthropathy, during school time and while being accompanied. Bleedings did not occurred with a higher frequency in children with family dysfunction.