Longitudinal quality of life in low-income men in a state-funded prostate cancer treatment program.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate longitudinal changes in disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among a cohort of low-income men treated for prostate cancer.


METHODS
Three hundred fifty-seven participants in a state-funded program that provides free prostate cancer treatment to uninsured, low-income men completed written surveys and telephone interviews containing validated measures of general and disease-specific HRQOL. Assessments were made at study enrollment and at subsequent times. Determinants of change were identified with repeated-measures analyses.


RESULTS
We found a significant interaction between the acute surgical treatment effects and time of assessment. Men exposed longer to the program's supportive and educational interventions reported less severe declines in post-operative urinary and bowel HRQOL than others.


CONCLUSIONS
Demographic covariates predicted general and disease-specific domains of HRQOL. Among patients treated with surgery, longer duration of pre-treatment program enrollment was associated with better outcomes.
Zavala
Mary Wassel
MW
Department of Urology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1738, USA.
Maliski
Sally L
SL
Kwan
Lorna
L
Miller
David C
DC
Fink
Arlene
A
Litwin
Mark S
MS
D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D054526:Men's Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration; D011203:Poverty; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen