Rare Bleeding Disorders

Bleeding disorders are a group of conditions that result when the blood cannot clot properly. Around one in 2,000 men, women and children in the UK have a diagnosed bleeding disorder, which is almost always inherited.

The most common is von Willebrand disorder (VWD), which affects slightly more women than men; with 7,071 women and 4,081 men diagnosed in the UK (though many thousands remain undiagnosed). Perhaps the most well-known bleeding disorder is haemophilia A, which predominantly, but not exclusively, affects men (8,740 people in the UK). There are also several rare bleeding disorders, which you can read more about below.   

Around third of all bleeding disorders are the result of a gene mutation with no previous family history, meaning that a bleeding disorder diagnosis can come completely out of the blue. In addition, many people with a bleeding disorder are undiagnosed, or are diagnosed late, because of a lack of understanding about these rare conditions. Find out more below.