Health-related quality of life of exposed versus non-exposed androgen deprivation therapy patients with prostate cancer: a cross-sectional study.

Background The survival rate of prostate cancer is relatively higher than other cancers, therefore, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) becomes a critical issue for the patients. There are limited quality of life data evaluating the difference between androgen deprivation therapy and non-androgen deprivation therapy. Objective To evaluate the HRQoL among prostate cancer patients with androgen deprivation therapy and non-androgen deprivation therapy in an Asian population. Setting The study was conducted at the urology outpatient department in a medical center and a regional hospital in southern Taiwan. Methods We collected the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Quality of Life Questionnaire-Prostate (QLQ-PR25) among prostate cancer patients with and without androgen deprivation therapy from December 2017 to June 2018. The androgen deprivation therapy subjects in this study were using goserelin, leuprolide, degarelix, bicalutamide, enzalutamide, cyproterone, and abiraterone. The non-androgen deprivation therapy subjects were only receiving radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy. To investigate the determinants of HRQoL between androgen deprivation therapy and non-androgen deprivation therapy, multiple linear regression was used. Main outcomes measures The scores of EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25. Results In total, 182 subjects participated in the study of which 116 (63.74%) were in androgen deprivation therapy user group with a mean age (± SD, standard deviation) of 75.94 years (± 8.31), and 66 (36.26%) subjects were in non-androgen deprivation therapy user group with a mean age of 70.6 years (± 7.1). androgen deprivation therapy users' quality of life was significantly lower than non-androgen deprivation therapy users (72.1 ± 19.3 vs. 77.8 ± 16.6, p = 0.0493). Conclusions The quality of life of patients with all-stages prostate cancer differs significantly between androgen deprivation therapy users and non-androgen deprivation therapy users. The HRQoL for androgen deprivation therapy users is worse than for the non-androgen deprivation therapy users. Additionally, the symptoms are the key determinants of the quality of life.