title: Waning sexual function--the most important disease-specific distress for patients with prostate cancer.
abstract: The objective was to investigate how prostate cancer and its treatment affects sexual, urinary and bowel functions and to what extent eventual complications cause distress. A questionnaire was sent to 431 men aged 50-80 years with prostate cancer diagnosed in 1992 in the Stockholm area (Sweden) and 435 randomly selected men with a similar age distribution. Sexual function, as compared with their youth, was diminished in a majority of all men. The prostate cancer patients were, however, more likely to report low frequency and/or intensity in all aspects of sexual function. A majority of the men were distressed by a waning sexual capacity. The proportion of men with prostate cancer who were severely distressed owing to a decline in sexual function was larger than in the reference group. The willingness to trade off an intact sexual function for long-term survival varied considerably among the men in the reference group. Urinary and bowel symptoms were less common than a waning sexual function in both groups, and few appeared to be severely distressed by urinary or bowel symptoms. A decline in sexual functions was the most common cause of disease-specific distress in men with prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Epidemiology, Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Helgason
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adolfsson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dickman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fredrikson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arver
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Steineck
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003248:Constipation; D003672:Defecation; D004542:Ejaculation; D005242:Fecal Incontinence; D006801:Humans; D007989:Libido; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009948:Orgasm; D010410:Penile Erection; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography; D012016:Reference Values; D012723:Sex; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence; D014554:Urination