(UroToday.com) The 2024 European Association of Urology (EAU) annual congress held in Paris, France between April 5th and 8th was host to a game changing session addressing the role of lymph node dissection in prostate cancer. Professor Andre Deschamps presented the initial results of the Europa Uomo Prostate Cancer Partners in Europe Research (EU-ProPER) study, which assessed real-world evidence from partners of prostate cancer patients to evaluate the impact of prostate cancer and its treatment on these partners.
Why was this study conducted? When the study investigators analyzed the EUPROMS 1 and 2 data,1 it was clear that the quality-of-life of prostate cancer patients was heavily compromised, particularly with regards to incontinence and sexual side effects. Notably, 83% of these patients were living with a partner. As such, Professor Deschamps noted that there are also likely to be significant quality-of-life effects on these partners as well. Accordingly, the investigators conducted the EU-ProPER to further evaluate this.
A 20-minute online survey was administered. Notably, there are no validated surveys for this target population; as such, the survey was developed based on the partners’ experiences and was pre-tested in 5 countries (Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and Spain). This survey included 80 questions plus a validated questionnaire, SF12v2®(Short Form 12 item [version 2]). It was available in 17 languages and was distributed in the Europa Uomo member network. This study was opened between October 9, 2023, and December 31, 2023. There were 1,135 valid responses from 25 countries, most commonly from The Netherlands, Norway, and Germany. The partner's median age at diagnosis was 61 years and 68 years at survey completion.
With regards to the survey results, compared to the general population (normscore), partners had a lower physical component summary score (41 versus 50). There were no differences in the mental component summary score (51 versus 50).
Reassuringly, it appears that the communication between prostate cancer patients and their partners is excellent. 89% of the partners reported that they are able to openly talk about the prostate cancer diagnosis with their spouse.
What about sharing the diagnosis with loved ones? It appears that 9 of 10 patients share their diagnosis with children, family, and friends.
46% of respondents noted that the prostate cancer diagnosis influences their relationship, with 43% reporting that the diagnosis brought them closer together. Conversely, 20% of partners felt lonely and 15% were worried about their relationship.
32% of respondents noted that the prostate cancer diagnosis has had an effect on their social life. 19% reported that the diagnosis has reduced participation in their own leisure activities or participation in social activities, in general.
Interestingly, the partners reported similar incontinence and sexual side effects for their partners to those reported from the patients themselves in EUPROMS 1.0 and 2.0 surveys.
Only 27% of prostate cancer partners were satisfied with their sexual life, and 52% of them reported that their sex life is important to them.
It is clear that incontinence post-treatment has a significant impact on these patients’ and partners’ lives, whereby only 39% report that nobody apart from the partner themselves is aware of the patient’s incontinence, 52% reported that the incontinence has an effect on the sex life, and 33% on their social life.
Worrisomely, 1 of 6 partners reported that they were not aware of the consequences of the prostate cancer treatment.
There is clearly a significant gap between what sexual health information patients’ partners desire and what they actually receive.
The take home messages from this study are as follows:
- Prostate cancer treatments have a significant impact on partners’ quality of life
- There are effects on the relationship, sexuality, and social life
- 1 in 6 partners are not aware of the effects of the prostate cancer treatment
- Prostate cancer partners report a big gap in desired and given information
- Further analysis is needed to further understand the relationship between all factors and the measures to improve partners’ quality of life
Presented by: Professor Andre Deschamps, MD, MBA, Chairman, Europa Uomo, Antwerp, Belgium
Written by: Rashid Sayyid, MD, MSc - Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Clinical Fellow at The University of Toronto, @rksayyid on Twitter during the 2024 European Association of Urology (EAU) annual congress, Paris, France, April 5th - April 8th, 2024
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