Age-specific health-related quality of life in disease-free long-term prostate cancer survivors versus male population controls—results from a population-based study

Salome Adam, Daniela Doege, Lena Koch-Gallenkamp, Melissa S.Y. Thong, Heike Bertram, Andrea Eberle, Bernd Holleczek, Ron Pritzkuleit, Mechthild Waldeyer-Sauerland, Annika Waldmann, Sylke Ruth Zeissig, Lina Jansen, Sabine Rohrmann, Hermann Brenner, Volker Arndt*

*Corresponding author for this work
1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Prostate cancer (PC) and its treatment may affect PC survivors differently with respect to age. However, little is known regarding age-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in PC survivors 5 years or even ≥ 10 years post-diagnosis. Methods: The sample included 1975 disease-free PC survivors (5–16 years post-diagnosis) and 661 cancer-free population controls, recruited from two German population-based studies (CAESAR+, LinDe). HRQoL in both populations was assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Additionally, PC survivors completed the PC-specific EORTC QLQ-PR25 questionnaire. Differences in HRQoL between survivors and controls, as well as differences according to age and time since diagnosis were analyzed with multiple regression after adjustment for age, education, stage, and time since diagnosis, where appropriate. Results: In general, PC survivors reported HRQoL and symptom-burden levels comparable to the general population, except for significantly poorer social functioning and higher burden for diarrhea and constipation. In age-specific analyses, PC survivors up to 69 years indicated poorer global health and social functioning than population controls. Stratification by time since diagnosis revealed little difference between the subgroups. On PC-specific symptoms, burden was highest for urinary bother and symptoms, and lowest for bowel symptoms. Younger age was associated with less urinary symptoms but higher urinary bother. Conclusion: Long-term disease-free PC survivors reported overall good HRQoL, but experienced persistent specific detriments. Our data suggest that these detriments do not improve substantially with increasing time since diagnosis. Targeted interventions are recommended to prevent PC-related and treatment-related symptoms becoming chronic and to enhance social functioning.

Original languageEnglish
JournalSupportive Care in Cancer
Volume28
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)2875-2885
Number of pages11
ISSN0941-4355
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.06.2020

Research Areas and Centers

  • Centers: University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein (UCCSH)

DFG Research Classification Scheme

  • 2.22-23 Reproductive Medicine, Urology
  • 2.22-02 Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
  • 2.22-14 Hematology, Oncology

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