Improving the Utility of Quality-of-Life Data from Men with Prostate Cancer
Published In: Journal of Clinical Oncology, v. 27, no. 24, Aug. 20, 2009, p. 3877-3878
Posted on RAND.org on August 20, 2009
Dostoevsky's central conceit in his 19th-century existentialist writings on human suffering is that man can ultimately accommodate to almost any tribulation. Contemporary psychosocial research in health-related quality-of-life outcomes in men with prostate cancer bears out this truth.1-3 This thesis notwithstanding, the medical literature is replete with studies documenting the poignant impact of quality-of-life impairments on men treated for early-stage prostate cancer. Radiation or surgery can lead to significant dysfunction or distress in the urinary, sexual, or bowel domains. Hence, the simultaneous consideration of both quality and quantity of life improves medical decision making for these men.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.