[Comorbidities after radical prostatectomy : Which subjective health restrictions are relevant for long-term...

Radical prostatectomy (RP) is one of the most common therapeutic strategies for treating localized prostate cancer (PCa). Currently, the significance of postoperative functional limitations for affected patients in the long-term course, especially in comparison to age-related comorbidities, is unclear.

The aim of this study was to quantify the prevalence of subjective health restrictions alongside functional deficits in long-term PCa survivors after RP and their relevance for subjective impairments in everyday life.

Using the German version of the Self-Administered Comorbidity Questionnaire (SCQ-D), 3173 long-term survivors after RP reported their comorbidities in 13 predefined categories and in 3 free-text fields along the dimensions "problem," "treatment," and "impairment".

The mean age at survey was 79.5 years (standard deviation, SD ± 6.4), with a mean time since RP of 17.4 years (SD ± 3.7). The three most frequently identified comorbidities/percentage of patients who felt impaired were: hypertension (62.2%/8.5%), back pain (44.1%/54.5%), and osteoarthritis (36.1%/54.1%). The most frequently mentioned additional health problems can be subsumed under the umbrella term "urological problems" (6.1%/72.7%): incontinence (4.8%/74.3%), bladder problems (1.1%/61.8%), and erectile dysfunction (0.5%/47.1%).

In summary, non-cancer-related comorbidities in the long-term course after RP are often perceived as "problems" but rarely lead to subjective impairment. In contrast, treatment-related urological problems are rarely reported as "problems", but they very often lead to subjective impairment in everyday life.