Self-reported health, function, and use of health care services in older prostate cancer survivors compared to matched controls: a cross-sectional study.

Purpose: Information about outcomes of particular relevance to older prostate cancer survivors is limited. This study aimed to compare health, activities of daily living (ADL), and use of health care services between survivors and matched controls.

Methods: A single-centre study on men treated for prostate cancer with curative intent at the age ≥ 70 years 2 to 7 years earlier. Controls matched on age and education were drawn (1:3) from the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) in Norway. Self-reported general health, independence in ADL and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), hospital admissions and emergency room visits were compared by estimating non-adjusted and adjusted (age, education, comorbidity, cohabitant status and pack years of smoking) regression models.

Results: The majority of both survivors (N = 233) and controls (N = 699) reported good (58.7% vs. 62.7%) or very good (11.2% vs. 6.8%) health and independence in ADL (95.6% vs. 96.3%) and IADL (82.7% vs. 81.9%). Hospital admission was reported by 17.3% vs. 18.2% and emergency room visit by 23.6% vs. 26.7%. Regression models showed no significant differences between survivors and controls.

Conclusions: Older prostate cancer survivors reported similar health, independence in ADL and use of emergency room and hospital admissions as matched controls.

Implications For Cancer Survivors: This study shows that survivors after curatively intended treatment of prostate cancer have as good health as matched controls, indicating that many patients tolerate such treatment well despite being of old age and that current practice for selection of patients offered such treatment is appropriate.