Normal range of bleeding scores for the ISTH-BAT: adult and pediatric data from the merging project

Haemophilia. 2014 Nov;20(6):831-5. doi: 10.1111/hae.12503. Epub 2014 Sep 6.

Abstract

Bleeding Assessment Tools (BATs) have been developed to aid in the standardized evaluation of bleeding symptoms. The Vicenza Bleeding Questionnaire (BQ), published in 2005, established a common framework and scoring key that has undergone subsequent modification over the years, culminating in the publication of the ISTH-BAT in 2010. Understanding the normal range of bleeding scores is critical when assessing the utility of a BAT. Within the context of The Merging Project, a bioinformatics system was created to facilitate the merging of legacy data derived from four different (but all Vicenza-based) BATs; the MCMDM1-VWD BQ, the Condensed MCMDM-1VWD BQ, the Pediatric Bleeding Questionnaire and the ISTH-BAT. Data from 1040 normal adults and 328 children were included in the final analysis, which showed that the normal range is 0-3 for adult males, 0-5 for adult females and 0-2 in children for both males and females. Therefore, the cut-off for a positive or abnormal BS is ≥4 in adult males, ≥6 in adult females and ≥3 in children. This information can now be used to objectively assess bleeding symptoms as normal or abnormal in future studies.

Keywords: ISTH-BAT; bleeding questionnaire; bleeding score; normal range.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Female
  • Hemophilia A / blood
  • Hemophilia A / diagnosis
  • Hemorrhage / blood*
  • Hemorrhage / diagnosis*
  • Hemorrhage / etiology
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Reference Values
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult
  • von Willebrand Diseases / blood
  • von Willebrand Diseases / diagnosis