Europa Uomo’s EU-PRESS research project addresses vital questions about patient involvement in prostate cancer treatment decisions
You should be involved in decisions
When men receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer, there are important decisions to be made – mainly about which treatments to receive. These decisions affect men’s length and quality of life, and men with prostate cancer and their partners should be closely involved in them.
The process of patients and their doctors jointly discussing the risks and benefits of each treatment and then deciding on the best options for that individual patient is called shared decision making (SDM).
If performed well, SDM can make prostate cancer treatment and its aftermath much easier. But if decisions are not shared, it can lead to worry, suffering and regret that the wrong decisions were made.
Europa Uomo has now carried out a study examining how well decisions are being shared between patients and doctors. In our previous studies such as EUPROMS and EU-PROPER we have discovered from patients and their partners that shared decision making is not easy and does not always take place. Our EU-PRESS (Europa Uomo Patient REported Shared decision making Study) research wanted to find out more.
Does being involved in decisions affect quality of life?
In particular, we wanted to find out whether men who are not involved in decisions have a worse quality of life after treatment. This might be because the treatment that resulted in side effects that didn’t suit the patient’s priorities in life, or because treatment effects were unexpected and affected him psychologically.
About the survey
The research was based around an online survey, open to any man in Europe who had consulted their doctor about treatment for prostate cancer since January 2022. In the survey, they answered questions about:
- their cancer
- their health
- their quality of life
- what your doctor discussed with them before treatment
- how they felt about their treatment
Their answers were completely anonymous. Surveys needed to be completed 31st December 2024.
The early results
The first results from the study were announced at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Madrid in March 2025. In summary, it found that:
- the more men are involved in decisions about their prostate cancer, the better their resulting quality of life
- shared decision-making results in men having fewer regrets about decisions made.
Read more about the findings in our report of the EAU presentation of results.