Quality of Life Associated with Treatment of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

The development of new therapies for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) has increasingly focused on improving patient quality of life, mainly because of limited survival gains and continuing high morbidity burden from disease progression or the adverse effects of treatments. However, there is no generally accepted quality of life instrument for use with this patient group. This paper objectively reviews the existing literature and assesses the impact of CRPC treatments on patients’ quality of life. The review also provides a narrative description of the evolving role of quality of life measures in clinical trials, and critiques the most widely used instruments.

Keywords: :

• Castration-resistant prostate cancer
• Quality of life
• Burden of illness
• Treatment

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Medical writing support for the development of this manuscript was provided by Richard Glover of inScience Communications, a Wolters Kluwer business, with the financial support of Astra Zeneca