Magnitude of the Potential Screening Gap for Fabry Disease in
Manitoba: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.
Can J Kidney Health Dis 2023;
10:20543581231162218. [PMID:
36970566 PMCID:
PMC10031591 DOI:
10.1177/20543581231162218]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Background:
Fabry disease is a rare disorder caused by the deficient activity of
α-galactosidase A (GLA) that often leads to organ damage. Fabry disease can
be treated with enzyme replacement or pharmacological therapy, but due to
its rarity and nonspecific manifestations, it often goes undiagnosed. Mass
screening for Fabry disease is impractical; however, a targeted screening
program for high-risk individuals may uncover previously unknown cases.
Objective:
Our objective was to use population-level administrative health databases to
identify patients at high risk of Fabry disease.
Design:
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting:
Population-level health administrative databases housed at the Manitoba
Centre for Health Policy.
Patients:
All residents of Manitoba, Canada, between 1998 and 2018.
Measurements:
We ascertained the evidence of GLA testing in a cohort of patients at high
risk of Fabry disease.
Methods:
Individuals without a hospitalization or prescription indicative of Fabry
disease were included if they had evidence of 1 of 4 high-risk conditions
for Fabry disease: (1) ischemic stroke <45 years of age, (2) idiopathic
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, (3) proteinuric chronic kidney disease or
kidney failure of unknown cause, or (4) peripheral neuropathy. Patients were
excluded if they had known contributing factors to these high-risk
conditions. Those who remained and had no prior GLA testing were assigned a
0% to 4.2% probability of having Fabry disease depending on their high-risk
condition and sex.
Results:
After applying exclusion criteria, 1386 individuals were identified as having
at least 1 high-risk clinical condition for Fabry disease in Manitoba. There
were 416 GLA tests conducted during the study period, and of those, 22 were
conducted in individuals with at least 1 high-risk condition. This leaves a
screening gap of 1364 individuals with a high-risk clinical condition for
Fabry disease in Manitoba who have not been tested. At the end of the study
period, 932 of those individuals were still alive and residing in Manitoba,
and if screened today, we expect between 3 and 18 would test positive for
Fabry disease.
Limitations:
The algorithms we used to identify our patients have not been validated
elsewhere. Diagnoses of Fabry disease, idiopathic hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, and peripheral neuropathy were only available via
hospitalizations and not physician claims. We were only able to capture GLA
testing processed through public laboratories. Patients identified to be at
high risk of Fabry disease by the algorithm did not undergo GLA testing due
to a clinical rationale that we were unable to capture.
Conclusions:
Administrative health databases may be a useful tool to identify patients at
higher risk of Fabry disease or other rare conditions. Further directions
include designing a program to screen high-risk individuals for Fabry
disease as identified by our administrative data algorithms.
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