Prostate cancer and quality of life

Abstract

Quality of life (QL) is a highly informative health index that is based on the self-assessment of general well-being and used in clinical practice to evaluate and enhance the efficiency of health care delivered to patients. The present review gives data on various QL studies mainly based on the principles of the psychometric test theory that provided data collection, by applying self-questionnaires or by interviewing patients. Studies of QL in cancer patients use a diversity of specialized test systems considering not only the specificity of various diseases, but also the nature of impact of various treatment modalities on the followed-up patients.

Currently available treatments for prostate cancer adversely affect LQ in patients very frequently. The preponderance of these or those abnormalities depends on a treatment option; therefore its selection for a specific patient should be determined, by taking into account their possible impact on quality of life in patients with prostate cancer.