New results show additional prostate cancer treatment adversely affects quality of life

Results from a follow-up of Europa Uomo’s EUPROMS studies shows that the impact of continuing treatment for prostate cancer on sexual function is “immediate and detrimental” and continues for a long time. In contrast, men who undergo radiotherapy or prostate removal earlier and do not undergo further treatments show improvements.

The findings reinforce the need for early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, if men are to have a good quality of life after diagnosis.

Europa Uomo carried out its EUPROMS quality of life studies in 2019 and 2021. A one-year follow-up study was then conducted to assess the effect of additional prostate cancer treatment on quality of life. The results, analysed by the Department of Urology at Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, have now been published in the journal European Urology Open Science.

Of the 1,006 men who completed the survey, 36% underwent new prostate cancer treatment, mainly new androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and external beam radiotherapy.

“Men who underwent new ADT in the EUPROMS 2.0 one-year follow-up study report symptoms of fatigue, insomnia, and erectile dysfunction, as well as the lowest EORTC-QLQ-C30 global health status score (compared with the other treatments in our study),” report the authors, who include André Deschamps, John Dowling and Guenther Carl of Europa Uomo.

“With the EUPROMS studies, Europa Uomo, as a patient powered research network, has collected real-world data from a patient-to-patient perspective as a complementary source of randomized controlled trial data for establishing a more robust evidence base on the health-related quality of life effects of prostate cancer treatment,” they conclude.