Caregivers spend an average of 30 hours per week caring for patients with metastatic prostate cancer, researchers reported in study findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The researchers analyzed data for 707 patients from the United States and Europe in the Disease-Specific Programmes database, including various health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) assessments such as the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Prostate (FACT-P). More than 40% of patients reported having a caregiver, most often a partner or spouse (> 80%).

Caregivers spent a mean of 31.6 hours per week providing care or patients with hormone-sensitive cancer (n = 376) and 28.9 hours per week for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (n = 331). FACT-P subscale scores were 18.2 for social, 14.7 for emotional, 13.6 for functional, and 19.7 for physical well-being in patients with hormone-sensitive cancers and 17.7, 14.0, 12.7, and 18.5 for those with castration-resistant cancers. Patients with castration-resistant cancers reported the lowest HRQOL scores and highest pain scores.

“Our findings suggest an unmet need for HRQOL in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer and metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer and also a need for greater caregiver support in these patients,” the researchers concluded.

Find recommended strategies for supporting caregivers in ONS’s Caregiver Strain and Burden Guidelines.