Prevalence of Bleeding Symptoms in Denmark Using the Patient-administered Bleeding Assessment Tool (self-BAT).

Abstract

The patient-administered bleeding assessment tool (self-BAT) is a screening tool developed to identify individuals in need of work-up for bleeding disorders. Nonetheless, large studies on self-BAT scores on healthy individuals according to gender and age are lacking. Determine cut-offs for abnormal total score of self-BAT and investigate the prevalence of bleeding symptoms in blood donors and individuals representative of the general Danish population. Blood donors, 15,600 children (<18years) and 18,200 adults from the general Danish population, were invited to complete a Danish version of the self-BAT. To determine cut-offs for abnormal total self-BAT score, findings from healthy young children (0-11years old), healthy adolescents (12-17years old), healthy adult women and healthy adult men were used. Among healthy young children (244 girls, 260 boys), healthy adolescents (58 girls, 83 boys), healthy women (n=437) and healthy men (n=278) from the general population, along with healthy blood donors (116 women, 176 men), the 95th percentile for total score was two for young girls, three for young boys, four for adolescent girls, three for adolescent boys, eight for women and four for men. Our findings indicate that the abnormal total self-BAT score is ≥3 for girls aged 0-11 years old, ≥4 for boys aged 0-11 years old, ≥5 for girls aged 12-17years old, ≥4 for boys aged 12-17years old, ≥9 for women and ≥5 for men. To establish the accuracy of these cut-offs for diagnosing bleeding disorders, further studies are needed.