No sexual, general quality of life impairment in long-term prostate cancer survivors

Prostate cancer seems to have no long-term adverse effects on survivors’ sexual, genitourinary, and general quality of life (QoL), a recent study has found.

Researchers enrolled 77 prostate cancer survivors (mean age, 70.4±7.3 years) who were surveyed 3–5 years after diagnosis. General and physical health related QoL (HRQoL) were assessed using the 12-item Short Form Survey (SF-12) and the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC). A parallel group of 124 bladder, colorectal, and lung cancer survivors (mean age, 70.7±9.5 years) were also included as controls.

Unadjusted analyses revealed only marginal differences between prostate cancer survivors and their comparators. In particular, HRQoL scores on the physical and mental components of SF-12, as well as EPIC urinary, bowel, or sexual subdomains, were not significantly different between groups.

Mental health outcomes seemed comparable, too, with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) depression scores failing to demonstrate a significant between-group discrepancy.

Multivariate analysis revealed largely similar trends. Compared to survivors of other cancers, the prostate cancer participants did not fare significantly worse in terms of the SF-12 mental component (expected difference, –1.60, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –5.19 to 1.99; p=0.384) and PHQ-9 depression (expected difference, 0.36, 95 percent CI, –0.04 to 0.76; p=0.077).

Similarly, EPIC scores for the urinary (expected difference, 3.80, 95 percent CI, –4.30 to 11.90; p=0.361), bowel (expected difference, 0.01, 95 percent CI, –11.76 to 11.78; p=0.999), and sexual (expected difference, 3.64, 95 percent CI, –6.55 to 13.83; p=0.485) domains remained comparable between groups.

The only exception was SF-12 physical function, which was significantly higher among long-term prostate cancer survivors (estimated difference, 8.11, 95 percent CI, 4.26–11.97; p<0.0001), indicating that they fared better than survivors of other cancers in this regard.