Assessing mood and general health-related quality of life among men treated in Australia for localized prostate cancer

OBJECTIVE: Although increasing numbers of Australian men are undergoing treatment for localized prostate cancer (PCa), the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of this patient cohort has received little research attention. We therefore compared the mood and general HRQOL of Australian localized PCa patients with a sample of untreated men. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional design was used to compare the longer-term positive and negative affect and general HRQOL of 82 radical prostatectomy (RP) cases, 39 external-beam radiation (EBRT), and 95 untreated comparison cases (CC). All PCa cases had undergone treatment more than 2 years prior to data collection. RESULTS: Levels of positive and negative affect did not differ with treatment modality. After adjusting for the variance attributable to age and comorbidity, RP, EBRT and CC group participants displayed similar general HRQOL profiles. Treatment dissatisfaction was higher among EBRT compared to RP cases (P = 0.024, two-tailed test). CONCLUSION: In the longer-term, mood did not vary significantly with PCa treatment. Furthermore, when age and comorbidity were taken into account, RP and EBRT patients had similar HRQOL profiles. While not statistically significant, the trend towards the importance of family, social and medical support among PCa patients requires further investigation.