Health-Related Quality of Life, Perceived Social Support, and Depression in Disease-Free Survivors Who Underwent Curative Surgery Only for Prostate, Kidney and Bladder Cancer: Comparison among Survivors and with the General Population

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of disease-free prostate (PC), kidney (KC), and bladder cancer (BC) survivors with that of the general population.

Materials and methods: Our study included 331 urological cancer (UC) survivors (114 PC, 108 KC, and 109 BC) aged ≥ 50 years disease-free for at least 1 year after surgery. The control group included 1,177 subjects without a history of cancer. The HRQoL was assessed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30, the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

Results: There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of any of the functioning sub-scales and symptoms, except significantly lower social functioning observed in BC survivors than that observed in KC survivors. Although the three groups of UC survivors showed essentially similar functioning sub-scales and symptoms when compared to the general population, PC and BC survivors showed significantly lower social functioning and a lower appetite than that observed in controls. KC survivors showed lower physical functioning, as well as higher pain and dyspnea. Although all three groups of UC survivors reported higher financial difficulties, they also reported higher perceived social support than that reported by the non-cancer control group. No statistically significant difference was observed in terms of depressive symptoms between each group of UC survivors and the general population.

Conclusion: Disease-free survivors of the three major types of UCs showed generally similar HRQoL compared to the general population, as well as compared to each other.