Qualidade de vida de homens com câncer de próstata.

Abstract

Introduction: There are few studies in Brazil which approach the quality of life related to the health of men with prostate cancer. It is the most common neoplasy among men and there is not a definite exam for premature prevention yet, and this can negatively impact these men s quality of life in case the diagnosis is done in most advanced stages of the disease. Objective: Analyze the symptoms of fatigue, depression, sleep and quality of life of patients with prostate cancer submitted to previous or subsequently hormone therapy related to radical prostatectomy and/or radiotherapy. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study with quantitative approach. Five tools were used for data collection: the first tool with social and clinical data of the patient, the second one with data from the Beck Depression Inventory, the third one the Piper Fatigue scale, the fourth The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-BR), the fifth The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 items. (EORTC-QLQ-C30). Results: Population studied was constituted by fifty (50) white men, aged 60-79, married, school education between one and four years, retirement as their current income, and individual monthly income up to two minimum wages. In the medical patient s records analyzed more than the half had tumor in stages III or IV and the majority of them had had or were undergoing radiotherapy. Related to hormone therapy, to which every man was submitted, the majority was in the first year of the medication, using it monthly, and the most usual hormone therapy was goserelin. The presence of mild fatigue was reported by the majority of the men, yet depression was not observed by the Beck Depression Inventory. Overall scores of PSQI evidenced bad quality of sleep. With respect to the quality of life related to health the dimensions of EORTC-QLQ-C30 which presented worse quality of life were the physical function and fatigue. It was observed that the correlations among the overall scores of PSQI and fatigue scores and depression scores presented themselves severe and statistically significant in the depression score, and pointed out that the worst the sleep the higher the chances of depression. Moreover, it was seen that the correlations among the dimensions of EORTC-QLQ-C30 and fatigue, depression and sleep scores showed themselves in the functional function, from severe to mild and statistically significant in the majority of the correlations, and in the function of the symptoms correlations also were from severe to mild in many of the scores. Conclusion: Use of tools showed useful in fatigue, depression and sleep disorders investigation, which change the quality of life related to health and the use of them in nurse s clinical practice can provide benefits for the treatment of men with this neoplasy.