Fear of Prostate Cancer Return Linked to Mental Health

Improvements in treatment-specific symptoms associated with better mental health

15 dec 2008-- Fear of recurrence, along with treatment-related symptoms, affect quality of life in prostate cancer survivors, according to research published in the December issue of Urology.

Keith Bellizzi, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from 730 men with localized prostate cancer treated with either radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy, or external-beam radiation. The researchers assessed factors including participants' fear of recurrence and treatment-specific symptoms before and after treatment, and post-treatment health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

The investigators found that improvements in fear of recurrence and treatment-specific symptoms were associated with better mental health. However, treatment-specific symptoms (incontinence, sexual dysfunction) were more responsible for variance in physical and mental HRQOL than men's fear of recurrence.

"Although fears about disease recurrence seem to decline after treatment, as seen in other research, even at lower post-treatment levels, fear of recurrence remains associated with a decrease in HRQOL. Understanding how these fears influence physical and mental health is an important component of providing care to this growing population," the authors write. "Implications for clinicians include appropriate counsel and referral to mental health professionals, particularly for men who seem to be struggling with recurrence concerns, as managing HRQOL is becoming an important part of optimal care to the growing number of prostate cancer survivors."

CaPSURE, the registry from which data were drawn, is sponsored by TAP Pharmaceutical Products.