Association between sociodemographic and clinical features, health behaviors, and health literacy of patients with prostate cancer and prostate cancer prognostic stage

Abstract

Patient characteristics may influence access and acceptance of Prostate Specific Antigen test, and therefore, the timing of prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis. A group of 361 patients from a cohort (n = 451) diagnosed with PCa in 2018–2020 at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Porto was evaluated before treatment, using a structured interview, the Medical Term Recognition Test, and the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire QLQ-PR25. PCa prognostic stages (I, II, III, IV) were attributed according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer eighth edition. Multinomial logistic regression was used to compute the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (OR [95% CI]), considering PCa stage II, the most frequent, as reference. Older age (OR = 4.21 [2.24–7.93]), living outside the Porto Metropolitan Area while having low income (OR = 6.25 [1.53–25.62]), and erectile dysfunction (OR = 2.22 [0.99–4.99]) were associated with stage III, while urination during the night (OR = 3.02 [1.42–6.41]) was associated with stage IV. Urine leakage was less frequent in stage III (OR = 0.23 [0.08–0.68]), and living with a partner (OR = 0.41 [0.19–0.88]) and family history of cancer (OR = 0.25 [0.07–0.86]) in stage IV. Health literacy was not associated with PCa stage but lower education was less frequent in stage I (OR = 0.27 [0.11–0.69]). Patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics should be considered as targets to improve PCa early detection and prognosis.