Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) questionnaires for men who have radical surgery for prostate cancer: a conceptual review of existing instruments.

To critically review conceptual frameworks for available patient reported outcome (PRO) questionnaires in men having radical prostatectomy; psychometrically evaluate each questionnaire; identify whether each is appropriate for use at the level of the individual patient.

We searched PubMed, the Reports and Publications database of the University of Oxford Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Group and the website of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) for psychometric reviews of prostate cancer specific PRO questionnaires. From these we identified relevant questionnaires and critically appraised the conceptual content, guided by the Wilson and Cleary framework and psychometric properties, using well established criteria.

Searches found four reviews and one recommendation paper. We identified seven prostate cancer specific PROs (EPIC-26, EPIC-50, UCLA-PCI, FACT-P, QLQ-PR25, and PC-QoL and STAR). Six out of seven measures purported to measure health related quality of life, but items focused strongly on urinary and sexual symptoms/functioning. The remaining questionnaire (STAR) claimed to assess functional recovery after radical prostatectomy. The psychometric evidence for these questionnaires was incomplete and variable in quality; none had evidence that they were appropriate for use with individual patients.

Several questionnaires provide the basis of measures of urinary and/or sexual symptoms/functioning. Further work should explore other aspects of health related quality of life that are important for men having radical prostatectomy. Further psychometric work is also needed to determine whether they can be used at the individual level. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.