Adherence to prophylactic treatment of patients with haemophilia A and B using the VERITAS-Pro in a population on the Colombian Caribbean Coast

Background: Haemophilia is a disease that results in high costs worldwide, and whereby there is limited access to pro­phylactic treatment due to poor health conditions and dif­ficultly in accessing healthcare; therefore, it becomes nec­essary to establish policies to improve the implementation or adherence of treatments in patients. Methods: An obser­vational, cross-sectional, and prospective study was con­ducted, with the application of the VERITAS-Pro test, which was validated using Cronbach´s alpha. The adherence was determined using a scale-based on VERITAS-Pro. Previous­ly, sociodemographic and clinical variables were collected in order to relate the data to a questionnaire. Results: 32 patients with haemophilia and prophylaxis treatment were in­cluded. They were divided into adults (>18 years-old) and mi­nors (<18 years-old). The majority of participants evidenced haemophilia A (77.8% of adults and 64.3% of minors) and the majority of participants had severe haemophilia (77.8% of adults and 85.0% of minors). The internal consistency showed high reliability (α= 0.811 in minors and α= 0.858 in adults). The results showed that 66.7% of adults evidenced adherence while minors showed 50.0%. These results were compared with variables such as type of hemophilia, degree of hemophilia, presence of arthropathy, emergency admis­sion, family history and inhibitors of coagulation factors. Conclusions: The VERITAS-Pro questionnaire showed high levels of consistency and reproducibility. The study popula­tion showed a high degree of adherence. It was therefore useful to evaluate the adherence of haemophiliac patients in the Colombian Caribbean.