ADT exposure impacts prostate Ca patients' physical well being

Exposure to androgen deprivation therapy is associated with worse physical well being in patients with prostate cancer, according to a recent study.

Researchers, including Peter R. Carroll, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, followed a total of 2,922 men who completed both pre-treatment and follow-up health-related quality of life assessment, identified from the CaPSURE (Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor) registry.

Exposure to ADT was defined by three groups: local (local treatment only), combination (local treatment with adjuvant and/or neoadjuvant ADT), and primary ADT. Associations between exposure to ADT and physical well being measured by self-reported health-related quality of life outcomes over time were evaluated by repeated measures analysis using mixed modeling.

During 24 months of follow-up, exposure to ADT was associated with worse physical well being compared with local treatment at all time points (p

"The potential consequence of decline in physical well being in patients exposed to ADT has to be included in treatment decision-making," the authors concluded.

Results from the study were published online in Cancer (March 15, 2011).