Baseline health-related quality of life in the management of prostate cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to clarify characteristics of baseline health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during the diagnostic process of prostate cancer.


METHODS
A prospective study was conducted to measure HRQOL in a cohort of 141 patients in whom prostate cancer was suspected and prostate biopsy was scheduled, using both generic and disease-specific HRQOL measures (SF-36, UCLA-Prostate Cancer Index) at two points: before prostate biopsy (prediagnosis) and after giving biopsy results (postdiagnosis). Seventy-three patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 68 were not.


RESULTS
Compared to age-gender adjusted population norms, patients demonstrated better physical function (PF) and worse mental health (MH). Characteristic age-related changes were found in PF and sexual function (SXF); however, disease stage exhibited no relevant effects in HRQOL. No significant difference was detected between pre- and postdiagnosis SF-36 and UCLA-PCI scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study discovered no relevant impact of the diagnostic process of prostate cancer on baseline HRQOL using SF-36 and UCLA-PCI. Combined with results of previous studies, it is supportive of regarding pretreatment levels of HRQOL as the baseline.
Ishihara
Masaharu
M
Department of Urology, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
Suzuki
Hiroyoshi
H
Akakura
Koichiro
K
Komiya
Akira
A
Imamoto
Takashi
T
Tobe
Toyofusa
T
Ichikawa
Tomohiko
T
D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires