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Quality of life among testicular cancer survivors: a case–control study in the United States

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Abstract

Introduction

Evidence from previous studies has suggested there may be physical and mental changes in health among testicular cancer survivors. No studies have been conducted in the United States, however.

Methods

Study participants were initially enrolled in the US Servicemen’s Testicular Tumor Environmental and Endocrine Determinants (STEED) study between 2002 and 2005. A total of 246 TGCT (testicular germ cell tumor) cases and 236 non-testicular cancer controls participated in the current study, and completed a self-administered questionnaire. Mean time since diagnosis for cases was 14 years, and no less than five for all cases. Component scores determined from responses to questions about physical and mental health on SF36 were tabulated to yield two summary measures, physical component scores (PCS), and mental component scores (MCS). Component and summary scores were normalized to a score of 50 with a standard deviation of 10 by a linear T-score transformation.

Results

Overall, cases may not suffer greatly in different quality of life than controls. When all cases and controls are compared, TGCT cases had lower PCS (mean: 51.9 95% CI: 50.6–53.2, P value: 0.037) than controls (mean: 53.6 95% CI: 52.7–54.6). MCS were not significantly different (P value: 0.091). In multivariate analyses, several physical health components were worse for TGCT cases such as role-physical (OR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.01–1.39) and general health (OR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.07–1.49) compared to controls. However, TGCT cases treated with chemotherapy had lower PCS (cases: 50.2, 95% CI: 47.6–52.8; controls: 53.6, 95% CI: 52.7–54.6, P value: 0.0032) and MCS (cases: 49.3, 95% CI: 46.5–52.1; controls: 52.0, 95% CI: 50.9–53.2, P value: 0.039). TGCT cases who received treatments other than chemotherapy did not differ from controls in either PCS or MCS.

Discussion

Physical and general health limitations may affect testicular cancer survivors. Men treated with chemotherapy, however, may be most likely to suffer adverse health outcomes due to a combination of body-wide effects on physical and mental factors which affect various aspects of physical health, mental health, and overall quality of life. And in particular, physical functioning, role–physical, and general health are strongly affected.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by grants CA130110 and CA105666 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and by Fogarty training grants 1D43TW008323-01 and 1D43TW007864-01 from the National Institute of Health (NIH). This publication was made possible by CTSA Grant number UL1 RR024139 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the NIH and NHL roadmap for medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR. The authors are greatly indebted to the Study participants, without whom, there would have been no study. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the author, and are not to be construed as official, or as reflecting true views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, LEPH 440, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Christopher Kim, Shuangge Ma, Kathryn Hughes Barry & Yawei Zhang

  2. Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD, USA

    Katherine A. McGlynn, Barry Graubard, Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy & Kathryn Hughes Barry

  3. Yale School of Nursing, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Ruth McCorkle

  4. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Ralph L. Erickson & David W. Niebuhr

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  1. Christopher Kim
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  2. Katherine A. McGlynn
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Correspondence to Yawei Zhang.

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Kim, C., McGlynn, K.A., McCorkle, R. et al. Quality of life among testicular cancer survivors: a case–control study in the United States. Qual Life Res 20, 1629–1637 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-9907-6

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