Abstract
Background: Little is known about health-related quality of life (HRQOL) following treatment for bladder cancer (BC).
Objective: To determine this, we undertook a cross-sectional survey covering 10% of the English population.
Design, setting, and participants: Participants 1–10 yr from diagnosis were identified through national cancer registration data.
Intervention: A postal survey was administered containing generic HRQOL and BC-specific outcome measures. Findings were compared with those of the general population and other pelvic cancer patients.
Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Generic HRQOL was measured using five-level EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ)-C30. BC-specific outcomes were derived from EORTC QLQ-BLM30 and EORTC QLQ-NMIBC24.
Results and limitations: A total of 1796 surveys were completed (response rate 55%), including 868 (48%) patients with non–muscle-invasive BC, 893 (50%) patients who received radiotherapy or radical cystectomy, and 35 (1.9%) patients for whom treatment was unknown. Most (69%) of the participants reported at least one problem in any EQ-5D dimension. Age/sex-adjusted generic HRQOL outcomes were similar across all stages and treatment groups, whilst problems increased with age (problems in one or more EQ-5D dimensions: <65 yr [67% {95% confidence interval or CI: 61–74}] vs 85+ yr [84% {95% CI: 81–89}], p = 0.016) and long-term conditions (no conditions [53% {95% CI: 48–58}] vs more than four conditions [94% {95% CI: 90–97}], p < 0.001). Sexual problems were reported commonly in men, increasing with younger age and radical treatment. Younger participants (under 65 yr) reported more financial difficulties (mean score 20 [95% CI: 16–25]) than those aged 85+ yr (6.8 [4.5–9.2], p < 0.001). HRQOL for BC patients (for comparison, males with problems in one or more EQ-5D dimensions 69% [95% CI: 66–72]) was significantly worse than what has been found after colorectal and prostate cancers and in the general population (51% [95% CI: 48–53], all p < 0.05).
Conclusions: HRQOL following BC appears to be relatively independent of disease stage, treatment, and multimodal care. Issues are reported with sexual function and financial toxicity. HRQOL after BC is worse than that after other pelvic cancers.
Patient summary: Patients living with bladder cancer often have reduced quality of life, which may be worse than that for other common pelvic cancer patients. Age and other illnesses appear to be more important in determining this quality of life than the treatments received. Many men complain of sexual problems. Younger patients have financial worries.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 621-632 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | European Urology |
Volume | 79 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 10 Feb 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: James W.F. Catto certifies that all conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (eg, employment/affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, or patents filed, received, or pending), are the following: James W.F. Catto has received reimbursement for consultancy from Astra Zeneca, Roche, and Janssen; speaker fees from BMS, MSD, Nucleix, and Roche; and honoraria for membership of advisory boards from Astra Zeneca, Ferring, Roche, and Janssen. Syed Hussain has received research funding from CR UK, MRC/NIHR, UHB charities, CCC charities, and North West Cancer Research; reimbursement for consultancy from Bayer, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pierre Fabre, and Eli Lilly; and advisory board/consultancy fess from Roche, MSD, AstraZeneca, BMS, Janssen, Pfizer, Astellas, Bayer, Pierre Fabre, Sotio, GSK, Ipsen, and Eisai. Mohini Varughese has received speaker fees from Pfizer, GSK, Genomic Health, and Roche; educational grants from Roche, Janssen, Pfizer, and MSD; and honoraria for membership of advisory boards from Astra Zeneca. The remaining authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.This study was funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research (study S385: The Yorkshire Cancer Research Bladder Cancer Patient Reported Outcomes Survey). The funder had no role in the design, analysis, or collection of the data; in writing the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. James W.F. Catto is funded by an NIHR Research Professorship.
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Association of Urology.
Citation: James W.F. Catto, Amy Downing, Samantha Mason, Penny Wright, Kate Absolom, Sarah Bottomley, Luke Hounsome, Syed Hussain, Mohini Varughese, Caroline Raw, Phil Kelly, Adam W. Glaser, Quality of Life After Bladder Cancer: A Cross-sectional Survey of Patient-reported Outcomes, European Urology, Volume 79, Issue 5, 2021, Pages 621-632, ISSN 0302-2838.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2021.01.032.
Keywords
- Bacillus Calmette-Guerin
- Bladder cancer
- EQ-5D
- Health-related quality of life
- Patient-reported outcomes
- Quality of life
- Radical cystectomy