Health Related Quality of Life among Patients with Prostate Cancer in Erbil, Iraq
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15218/ejnm.2025.15Keywords:
Health-related quality of life, Prostate cancer, Body mass index, Time since diagnosis, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of lifeAbstract
Background and objectives: Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer that affects men, especially older men. The quality of life of men with prostate cancer is affected by several things, such as how long it has been since they were diagnosed and their body mass index. The study aims to identify health-related quality of life domains of participants and compare health-related quality of life among prostatic cancer patients with their body mass index and time passed from cancer diagnosis.
Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2024 to February 2025 on 100 male patients with prostate cancer. Sociodemographic data forms and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life questionnaires (core 30) and the Prostate Cancer Module (25 items) were used to collect data from the participants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS (version 25).
Results: Half of the participants were aged 70 or older, and more than half were illiterate and retired. Health-related quality of life function scores differed significantly with body mass index at p-value in role (0.017), emotional (0.010), social (0.016), and sexual functioning (0.006), with normal body mass index patients showing better outcomes. In addition, significant differences were reported between the time elapsed since cancer diagnosis and symptoms such as urinary issues (p-value 0.043), bowel problems (0.009), hormonal symptoms (0.004), and sexual activity (0.019).
Conclusion: The study concluded that both body mass index and time since diagnosis significantly affect health-related quality of life in prostate cancer patients.
Metrics
References
Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A, et al. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries, correction in: CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2020;70:313 doi:10.3322/caac.21492.
Rawla P. Epidemiology of prostate cancer. World Journal of Oncology. 2019;10(2):63–89. doi:10.14740/wjon1191.
Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. Cancer statis-tics, 2020. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.2020;70(1):7–30. doi:10.3322/caac.21590
Wirth M, van der Poel H, Anderson J, Grae-fen M, Stief C, Wiegel T, et al. The European Prostate Cancer Centres of Excellence: A novel proposal from the European Association of Urology Prostate Cancer Centre Consensus Meeting. European Urology.2019;76(2):179–186.doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2019.01.025
Fayers P, Aaronson N, Bjordal K, Groenvold M, Curran D, Bottomley A, et al. The EORTC QLQ-C30 Scoring Manual (3rd edition). Brussels: European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer; 2001.
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2019. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2019. Available from: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2019/cancer-facts-and-figures-2019.pdf.
Holm M, Doveson S, Lindqvist O, Wennman-Larsen A, Fransson P. Quality of life in men with metastatic prostate cancer in their final years before death – a retrospective analysis of prospective data. BMC Palliative Care. 2018;17(1):126. doi:10.1186/s12904-018-0385-0
Bourke L, Boorjian SA, Briganti A, Klotz L, Mucci L, Resnick MJ, et al. Survivorship and improving quality of life in men with prostate cancer. European Urology. 2015;68(3):374–383.doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2015.04.007
Kikkawa K, Iba A, Kohjimoto Y, Noda Y, Son-omura T, Hara I. Impact of age on quality of life in patients with localized prostate cancer treated with high-dose rate brachytherapy combined with external beam radiotherapy. International Journal of Urology. 2018;25(4):366–371. doi:10.1111/iju.13505
Amin IM, Khidhir BA, Niranji SS, Hussein NR. Cancer incidence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: results of a seven-year cancer registration in Erbil and Duhok governorates. Journal for Medical Internet Research Public Health and Surveillance. 2021;7(12):e25045. doi:10.2196/25045
Ahmed ME, El-Nakeeb AA, Saleh RS. Socio-demographic and clinical profile of prostate cancer patients in Egypt: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Geriatric Oncology. 2023;14(2):245–251. doi:10.1016/j.jgo.2022.08.006
Al-Tarawneh HS, Qudah MF, Alshraideh HA. Prostate cancer awareness and screening behavior among elderly males in Jordan. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. 2022;28(3):195–201.doi:10.26719/emhj.22.022
Kaya B, Goktas S, Cikrikcioglu MA. The impact of socioeconomic status on prostate cancer presentation: A hospital-based study. Turkish Journal of Urology.2021;47(4):255–260. doi:10.5152/tud.2021.21142
Rezaei N, Hosseini M, Ghaffari R. Sexual dysfunction and smoking status in Iranian men with prostate cancer: A correlational study. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention.2022;23(5):1575–1582. doi:10.31557/APJCP.2022.23.5.157515.
Al-Harbi MA, Al-Saadi AS, Al-Eid AA. Health-related quality of life and its sociodemo-graphic determinants in prostate cancer patients in Saudi Arabia. Middle East Journal of Cancer. 2022;13(1):83–92. doi:10.30476/MEJC.2021.91268.1476.
Tzenios N, Tazanios ME, Chahine M. The impact of body mass index on prostate can-cer: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore).2022;101(47):e30191.doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000030191
Korfage IJ, Essink-Bot ML, Borsboom GJ, Madalinska JB, Kirkels WJ, de Koning HJ, et al. Health-related quality of life in prostate cancer patients: Normal weight vs. overweight. European Urology. 2021;79(3):411–419. doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2020.10.008
Press AR, Lee MC, Nguyen PL. Obesity and health-related quality of life outcomes in prostate cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology.2023;41(5):688–695. doi:10.1200/JCO.22.01471
Park S, Lee Y, Kim J. Time since diagnosis and quality of life in prostate cancer survivors: A nationwide cross-sectional survey. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. 2022;20(1):127. doi:10.1186/s12955-022-02009-3
Torvinen S, Färkkilä N, Sintonen H, Saarto T, Roine RP, Taari K, et al. Health-related quality of life and symptoms among prostate cancer patients over time. Acta Oncologica. 2020;59(1):17–24. doi:10.1080/0284186X.2019.1663143
Chambers SK, Hyde MK, Occhipinti S, Zaj-dlewicz L, Lowe A, Dunn J, et al. Long-term quality of life outcomes among prostate cancer survivors in community settings. BMC Cancer. 2023;23(1):91. doi:10.1186/s12885-023-10557-w
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Hiwa Ahmed Omar, Berivan Star Hamad Ameen, Bakhtyar Othman Omer, Yousif Bakr Omar (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
