Prostate cancer—the most common non-skin cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer death—develops most often in older men. Many are treated with androgen deprivation therapy, which has many adverse effects for older men.
- Prostate Cancer in the Elderly Patient: The effectiveness of prostate cancer treatment in older men is largely affected by health status and other age-related issues prevalent in this population. But prostate cancer is most often diagnosed in older men, so researchers in this Journal of Clinical Oncology article discuss using health status data to make individualized and informed treatment decisions for older patients with prostate cancer.
- Impact of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy on Physical Function and Quality of Life in Men With Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer: Half of men diagnosed with prostate cancer will receive androgen deprivation therapy, which has many side effects, including fatigue, anemia, poor quality of life, and sexual dysfunction. In this Journal of Clinical Oncology article, researchers detail their study of how self-reported physical function was affected by these side effects from androgen deprivation therapy. They found that specific elements of quality of life, including endurance and upper body strength, were impacted within the first 3 months of therapy, and they suggest that patients be advised to exercise to combat these effects ahead of time.
- Long-Term Follow-up of a Randomized Trial of Radiation With or Without Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Localized Prostate Cancer: In this JAMA article, researchers discuss their study of men with prostate cancer and moderate to severe comorbidities receiving radiation alone versus radiation plus androgen deprivation therapy and how that affects overall survival and cardiac mortality. They found that the addition of androgen deprivation therapy to radiation therapy does not largely increase overall mortality rates in men in this subgroup and should be carefully weighed before being chosen as a treatment path.