Associations between stress urinary incontinence and self-reported functioning and urinary symptoms among survivors of prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between a stress urinary incontinence (SUI) diagnosis, patient-reported urinary symptoms, and physical, role, emotional, cognitive, and social functioning among 2 to 12-year survivors of prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study based on the Danish SEQUEL cohort that comprises validated patient-reported outcomes and data from national health registers, including information on cancer treatment within the first year after diagnosis. Information on SUI diagnosis was obtained from the National Patient Register. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between an SUI diagnosis, patient-reported urinary symptoms, and functioning domains.

RESULTS: A total of 27,507 survivors of prostate cancer were invited to SEQUEL, of whom 9619 responded. Within a year of diagnosis, 3855 survivors underwent radical prostatectomy and were included in the study. Survivors diagnosed with SUI (N = 308, 8%) reported a lower role functioning score (-5.8 points, 95% CI: -8.1 to -3.4), a lower social functioning score (-7.1 points, 95% CI: -9.4 to -4.7), and a higher level on the urinary symptom score (9.9 points, 95% CI: 7.7-12.1) compared to survivors without an SUI diagnosis, indicating statistically significant differences of small to moderate clinical relevance.

CONCLUSION: Two to 12 years after radical prostatectomy, survivors with an SUI diagnosis reported lower role and social functioning scores and higher urinary symptom scores than survivors without an SUI diagnosis. The long-term effect of an SUI diagnosis on role and social functioning is important to consider when choosing the primary treatment.