By Frederik Joelving NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Participating
in sports such as basketball or wrestling appears to increase
the bleeding risk in boys with a rare blood clotting disorder,
but the overall risk remains small, according to new research
from Australia. "This study provides the first estimates of the
risk involved in various sports activities and will enable
children with hemophilia and their parents to make more informed
decisions regarding sports participation," Dr. Carolyn Broderick
of the University of New South Wales in Sydney told Reuters
Health by email. About 18,000 people in the U.S. have
hemophilia, according to the National Institutes of Health,
putting them at risk for serious bleeding that would have
stopped quickly in people without the disorder. Broderick and
her colleagues followed 104 children and teens at three
hemophilia centers for one year on average, interviewing them or
their parents each time they had a bleeding episode. According
to findings in the Journal of the American