Association between the baseline frailty and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer (FRAQ-PC study)

Background The association between baseline frailty and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with prostate cancer (PC) remains unknown. Methods We retrospectively evaluated the association of pretreatment frailty with HRQOL in 409 patients with PC from February 2017 to April 2020. Frailty and HRQOL were evaluated using the geriatric 8 (G8) screening tool and QLQ-C30 questionnaire, respectively. The primary objective was comparison of G8 and QOL scores between the localized diseases (M0 group) and metastatic castration-sensitive PC (mCSPC group). Secondary objectives were to study the association of G8 and QOL scores in each group and effect of frailty (G8 <= 14) on worse QOL. Results The median age of patients was 70 years. There were 369 (surgery: 196, radiotherapy: 156, androgen deprivation therapy alone: 17) patients in the M0 and 40 patients in the mCSPC groups. There was a significant difference between the M0 and mCSPC groups in the G8 score (14.5 vs. 12.5), functioning QOL (94 vs. 87), global QOL (75 vs. 58), and 100-symptom QOL (94 vs. 85) scores. G8 scores were significantly associated with functioning, global, and 100-symptom QOL scores in both M0 and mCSPC groups. The multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that frailty (G8 <= 14) was significantly associated with worse global QOL, functioning QOL, and 100-symptom QOL scores. Conclusion The baseline frailty and HRQOL were significantly different between the localized and metastatic disease. The baseline frailty was significantly associated with worse HRQOL in patients with PC.

Automated summary

This study found a significant association between baseline frailty and HRQOL in prostate cancer patients, as well as significant differences in baseline frailty and HRQOL between localized and metastatic diseases. Frailty was associated with worse quality of life in patients with PC.