eHealth-Based Interventions for Older Patients with Prostate Cancer: A Quick Review of the Literature

The prevalence of prostate cancer (PC) is higher in older adults. Due to early diagnosis and treatment, there is an increase in the survival rate of these patients. The survival of patients with PC imposes the need for specific and effective care strategies.

To identify and analyze eHealth intervention programs for older adults with PC.

A quick review of evidence from the current literature was employed to address the objective of the study. The recommendations of the Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group were used. The PubMed, Embase, Capes Journals, and Lilacs-BVS databases were searched, covering studies published from January 2010 to July 2021. The articles selected were classified considering the modalities and type of eHealth strategies.

A total of 10 articles were included in this review. Two types of modalities were identified and classified: the intervention that used the web-based platform (WBP) was the most used in the studies (n = 7), followed by the interactive smartphone application (ISA) (n = 3) and mixed (WBP + ISA) (n = 1). As for the classification, mixed interventions were the most used (n = 4), followed by self-monitoring (n = 3), educational (n = 2), and behavioral counseling (n = 1). The clustering of articles generated three groups for the presentation of results and discussion, being eHealth interventions: integrated care, detection of symptoms, and quality of life in older patients with PC, psychological eHealth interventions in older adults with PC, and physical activity eHealth interventions in older adults with PC.

eHealth interventions for patients with PC are relatively new but promising in the support of current care options.