7-day weighed food diaries suggest patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia may spontaneously modify their diet to avoid nosebleed precipitants

Abstract

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) poses substantial burdens due to nosebleeds and iron deficiency resulting from recurrent hemorrhagic iron losses. Recent studies by our group found surprising links between HHT nosebleeds and certain food groups. In this letter, we report 7-day weighed food diary assessments of an unselected group of 25 UK patients with HHT whose nosebleeds ranged from mild to severe (median epistaxis severity score 4.66, range 0.89- 9.11). The diaries provide evidence that food items most commonly reported to provoke nosebleeds were ingested by fewer HHT patients, compared to food items less commonly reported to provoke nosebleeds (chi-squared p <0.001).