Impact of bladder cancer on health related quality of life in 1,476 older Americans: a cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
The impact of bladder cancer diagnosis on health related quality of life is poorly understood. We compared health related quality of life measures in patients before and after bladder cancer diagnosis.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study in 1,476 patients 65 years old or older with bladder cancer in the SEER-MHOS linkage database between 1998 and 2007 to assess differences in physical and mental component summary scores in 620 and 856 who completed a survey before and after bladder cancer diagnosis, respectively. To determine differences in physical and mental scores in the prediagnosis and post-diagnosis cohorts, we used ANOVA adjusting for baseline covariates.


RESULTS
There were statistically significant differences in physical and mental component summary scores between the prediagnosis and post-diagnosis groups (-2.7, 95% CI -3.8, -1.7 vs -1.4, 95% CI -2.6, -0.3). In patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer the physical and mental score differences were -1.9 (p <0.01) and -1.4 (p = 0.01), respectively. In those with muscle invasive bladder cancer there was a statistically and clinically significant difference in the physical but not the mental score (-5.3, p <0.01 vs -2.7, p = 0.07). This difference in the physical domain persisted up to 10 years after the diagnosis of muscle invasive bladder cancer. Patients with bladder cancer who had 4 or more comorbid medical conditions and 1 or more deficits in daily living activity were most at risk for low physical component summary scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Future research into interventions to improve health related quality of life and methods to incorporate health related quality of life into decision making models are critical to improve outcomes in older patients with bladder cancer.
Division of Medical Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York. Electronic address: chunkit_fung@urmc.rochester.edu.
Chunkit
C
Fung
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
Chintan
C
Pandya
Division of Medical Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
Elizabeth
E
Guancial
Department of Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
Katia
K
Noyes
Division of Medical Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
Deepak M
DM
Sahasrabudhe
Department of Urology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
Edward M
EM
Messing
Division of Medical Oncology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
Supriya G
SG
Mohile
D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms
aged; quality improvement; quality of life; questionnaires; urinary bladder neoplasms