Treatment burden refers to the overall impact of medical treatments on a patient's well-being and daily life. Our objective is to evaluate the impact of treatment burden on quality of life (QoL) in patients with genitourinary (GU) malignancies, highlighting the importance of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials to inform treatment decisions and improve patient care.
We conducted a narrative review of clinical trials focused on GU malignancy (prostate, bladder, and kidney) between January 2000 and June 2024, analyzing related PROs and findings regarding treatment burden.
Recent landmark clinical trials demonstrate significant improvements in overall survival across GU malignancies with novel therapies. However, the reporting of QoL outcomes in these trials is often inadequate, with many lacking comprehensive data or long-term impact. Current publications are increasingly evaluating treatment burden and its impact on patient well-being as a critical outcome, but most clinical trials to date have failed to assess treatment burden across key domains including financial, time and travel, and medication management.
While advancements in treatment have extended longevity in patients with GU malignancies, the treatment burden associated with the receipt of novel agents and its implications for QoL remain inadequately uncharacterized.
European urology. 2024 Dec 19 [Epub ahead of print]
Marie-Pier St-Laurent, Bernard Bochner, James Catto, Benjamin J Davies, Christian Daniel Fankhauser, Tullika Garg, Jill Hamilton-Reeves, Viraj Master, Bente T Jensen, Susanne V Lauridsen, Elizabeth Wulff-Burchfield, Sarah P Psutka
Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada., Urology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA., Department of Urology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK., Department of Urology Division of Health Services Research University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA., University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland; University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland., Department of Urology, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA., Department of Urology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA., Department of Urology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA., Department of Urology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark., WHO-CC/Clinical Health Promotion Centre, the Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark; Center for Perioperative Optimization, Department of Surgery, Copenhagen University Hospital - Herlev and Gentofte, Herlev, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark., Medical Oncology Division and Palliative Medicine Division, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine, University of Kansas Cancer Center, The University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS, USA., Department of Urology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Electronic address: .