Predictors of fatigue after treatment for prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether post-treatment fatigue among men treated for prostate cancer varies by treatment, demographics, or pretreatment general and disease-specific health-related quality of life. We also sought to describe the baseline characteristics of men who were fatigued at follow-up to allow for interventions in those at greatest risk.


METHODS
We conducted a secondary analysis on data gathered from men with prostate cancer at biopsy and after treatment by examining factors that predicted for post-treatment fatigue.


RESULTS
Univariate and multivariate analysis results demonstrated that post-treatment fatigue was associated with baseline fatigue, role limitations due to emotional problems, treatment type, and treatment location.


RESULTS
Univariate analysis showed that those who were fatigued at follow-up were more likely to have been treated at a public facility (P = 0.0017), be nonwhite (Latino, African American, or Asian Pacific-Islander; P = 0.0362), be married (P = 0.0413), be not employed at least part-time (P = 0.0327), to have one or more comorbidities (P = 0.0005), and to have scored lower in all domains of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey and UCLA Prostate Cancer Index at baseline (all P < or = 0.05) than those not fatigued at follow-up. Those who declined from baseline energy levels were more likely to have had lower baseline energy scores (P < 0.0001), to have been treated in a public facility (P = 0.0578), and to have had a baseline prostate-specific antigen level of 10 ng/mL or greater (P = 0.059) than those who remained at their baseline energy level. Lower baseline role-emotional scores were associated with both fatigue at follow-up and a decline from baseline at follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Men with lower pretreatment quality-of-life measures may be at increased risk of fatigue after prostate cancer treatment.
Maliski
Sally L
SL
Department of Urology, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90092, USA. smaliski@mednet.ucla.edu
Kwan
Lorna
L
Orecklin
James R
JR
Saigal
Christopher S
CS
Litwin
Mark S
MS
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D015897:Comorbidity; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005006:Ethnicity; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood; D015995:Prevalence; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000523:psychology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen