The Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients with Prostate Cancer in Different Cancer Therapies

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Yu-Hua Lin, PhD, RN
Nursing Department, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: to understand the quality of life hold by prostate cancer patients after cancer therapy.

Learning Objective 2: to compare the Health related quality of life of Patients with Prostate Cancer between radical prostatectomy and Brachytherapy.

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to compare the Health related quality of life of Patients with Prostate Cancer between radical prostatectomy and Brachytherapy.

Methods:

This study applied comparison correlation design. All participants are over 40 years, conscious clear, and received one of treatment of prostate cancer. Instruments used by 1 hour pad test, and University of California in Los Angel Prostate Cancer Index (UCLA-PCI) was used. An entire population was from one 1170-bed hospital in Kaohsiung County. Of the 121 men meet inclusion criteria. Data was collected from August 20, 2007 to October 20, 2009. The researchers mailed the survey, which was completed at home, and participants returned it in a prestamped, addressed envelope. Total 118 (97 for Radical Prostatectomy; 21 for Brachytherapy) subjects participated and self-reported using a structured questionnaire. The reliability (alpha) of overall Prostate Cancer Index was 0.90, and 0.85, 0.93, and 0.72 for each subscale respectively.

Results: The results indicated that month post-treatment was positively correlated with urinary function (r=.23, p=.019) and sexual function (r=.43, p=<.001). Age was negatively correlated with bowel function (r=-.31, p=.001) and bowel bothers (r=-.22, p=.024). Data were analyzed by t-test for individual UCLA_PCI score. We identified the bowel and sexual function means revealed significant differences (t = 2.94, p= .004; t= -4.93, p< .001). All other variables were not revealed significant differences.

Conclusion:

Study findings suggest that healthcare providers should better understanding of patients’ complication after treatment, and, ultimately, increase the quality of life for prostate cancer patients.