Latest EUPROMS results show men not being allowed to weigh options

Many men who receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer are still not sufficiently involved in making decisions about their treatment, Europa Uomo Chairman Guenther Carl told urologists at a recent webinar organised by the European Association of Urologists (EAU).

He said that some of the most important findings from Europa Uomo’s second EUPROMS quality of life studies, to be announced in more detail at the EAU Congress in March, concerned shared decision making. Using a standard 9-item questionnaire (SDM Q-9), the EUPROMS 2.0 study found that only around half of men with prostate cancer felt that they had had opportunity to thoroughly weigh the treatment options with their doctor.

“That needs improvement,” said Guenther Carl. “We know that patients who are involved in shared decision making are much less critical about the outcome, even if that outcome is not excellent. Even if there is a relapse they will take it much better if they were involved in decision making.”

He was speaking to an audience of around 300 urologists at the webinar on patient centred care, organised by the European School of Urology online.