Quality of Life in Patients with Prostate Cancer Treated with LH-RH Agonists

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify factors that influence quality of life (QoL) in patients with prostate carcinoma treated with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonists. Patients and Methods: Patients treated with LH-RH agonists were administered QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25 questionnaires of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. Additional parameters were evaluated: age, body mass index, prostate specific antigen, presence of metastases, previous retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP), previous radiotherapy, duration of treatment with LH-RH agonists, treatment with anti-androgens. Results: Fifty-eight patients before first LH-RH agonists application served as the control group. Eighty-five patients with subsequent application formed the study group. The patients in the control group had better global health status (p = 0.000), physical function (p = 0.002), erectile function (p = 0.000) and sexual function (p = 0.001), and less treatment related symptoms (p = 0.000) than the patients in the study group. Patients with metastatic disease had worse global health status (p = 0.040), physical function (p = 0.002), role function (p = 0.002) and social function (social function) (p = 0.021), and were more fatigued (p = 0.012) and suffered more pain (p = 0.006) than patients without metastases. Patients with previous radiotherapy had worse gastrointestinal symptoms than the rest of the group (p = 0.029). Gastrointestinal symptoms had reduced social function (p = 0.000). Patients with previous RRP had worse erectile function (p = 0.039) and were more incontinent (p = 0.010) than the rest of the group. Incontinent patients had worse social function (p = 0.045) and had more financial problems (p = 0.033) than continent patients. There were no statistically significant differences in any parameters of QoL between patients treated with triptorelin or goserelin. Conclusion: Treatment with LH-RH agonists reduces QoL in patients with prostate carcinoma. QoL may be additionally reduced by metastatic disease, previous radiotherapy or RRP.