THURSDAY, Jan. 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Changes in mental and emotional well-being occur in prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), according to research published in an upcoming issue of The Journal of Urology.
K. Clint Cary, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues analyzed data from a national registry for 3,068 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer to assess the effect of ADT on mental and emotional well-being.
The researchers found that, compared with patients receiving local therapy only, those receiving either a combination of local therapy and ADT or primary ADT, were older, single, less educated, and had higher clinical risk scores. Exposure to ADT was associated with significant declines over time in adjusted role emotional (−8.4 points) and vitality (−9.2 points) scores. No association was found between treatment group and clinically meaningful decline in quality of life.
"Use of androgen deprivation therapy was associated with changes in mental and emotional well-being but did not result in clinically meaningful declines at 24 months," the authors write. "Patients must be counseled on possible quality of life changes related to androgen deprivation therapy as well as interventions to attenuate these effects before receiving treatment for prostate cancer."
Several authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.
Abstract
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