Marital relationship and health-related quality of life of patients with prostate cancer and their spouses: A longitudinal clinical study.

Aims And Objectives: To examine changes in the marital relationship 6 months after the diagnosis and the effects of these changes on the health-related quality of life of the patients with prostate cancer and their spouses.

Background: There is limited knowledge on the impact of a diagnosis of prostate cancer on the marital relationship and health-related quality of life of patients and their spouses.

Design: Survey with longitudinal descriptive and comparative elements.

Methods: Of 350 recruited couples (N = 700), 186 couples (n = 372) completed the Marital Questionnaire and RAND 36-Item Health Survey at the two measurement points: time of diagnosis and 6 months later. Changes in the marital relationship were analysed statistically using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests. The influence of changes in the marital relationship on health-related quality of life was evaluated using linear regression analyses.

Results: The patients and their spouses reported lower marital satisfaction 6 months after the diagnosis than at the time of diagnosis. The summary score for marital satisfaction of the spouses significantly decreased during the follow-up period. In contrast, decreasing changes in the marital relationship of the patients were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the marital relationship of the patients and their spouses was not statistically significantly associated with changes in the health-related quality of life of the patients and their spouses within 6 months.

Conclusions: The results of this study add to current knowledge of the marital relationship of patients with prostate cancer and their spouses. The spouses reported that their marital relationship had suffered, whereas the patients reported that the marital relationship remained unchanged.

Relevance To Clinical Practice: These findings may be useful when counselling of patients with prostate cancer and their spouses.