Quality of life in patients diagnosed of prostate cancer treated with continuous androgen deprivation therapy vs. intermittent therapy

Abstract

Treatment with intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD) seeks to improve the quality of life of patients with prosta-te cancer, with the same oncologic results as continuous androgen deprivation (CAD). The aim of this paper is to compare, using the CAVIPRES questionnaire, the quality of life between two groups of patients, one treated with CAD and the other with IAD. A longitudinal study was performed for 24 months involving 114 patients. After 6 months, patients were randomized to two treatment groups (49 patients in CAD and 51 patients in IAD), controlled at 6, 12 and 18 months from randomisation. The score of the items and the overall score of the CAVIPRES questionnaire between the two groups was compared and their variation over time was studied. Patients with IAD had a better overall score than patients with CAD (p=0.002). Of the 5 blocks of items into which the questionnaire was divided, the IAD group had a better score than CAD in "Psychological aspects" (p=0.009) and "Social and partner support" (p=0.008). At 18 months, IAD improved the overall quality of life of patients relative to the time of randomization (p=0.000), as well as the score for "Sexual Life" (p=0.000) and "Social and partner support" (p=0.002). CAD did not improve overall quality of life or the score for the different blocks throughout the study (p>0.05). IAD improves overall quality of life of patients at 18 months of stopping treatment.