Lifestyle interventions and their impact on prostate cancer quality of life

The authors aimed to determine the effect of lifestyle interventions on quality of life in men with prostate cancer.

The authors concluded that exercise, in particular supervised programs and resistance training, and diet interventions improved quality of life in men with prostate cancer.

Active treatments for prostate cancer include prostate surgery (removal of the prostate gland), radiation therapy (targets beams of radiation at the cancer site) and hormone therapy (targets the male sex hormones active in prostate cancer). However, lifestyle changes or interventions can be implemented to improve quality of life (QoL) in men with prostate cancer. This can involve changes to diet, exercise or behavioral changes, such as reducing alcohol intake or smoking. 

Changes in lifestyle behavior can result in improvements of QoL. QoL refers to a persons social, mental, physical and social well-being. Further studies are needed to determine the benefit of lifestyle interventions on QoL in men with prostate cancer. 

This study looked at 17 trials that focused on lifestyle and QoL outcomes in prostate cancer patients. 

Patients underwent a variety of treatments including radiation (18%), hormone therapy (47%), active surveillance (monitoring the cancer without active treatment – 6%), prostate surgery (6%) or radiation and hormone therapy combined (6%). Lifestyle interventions studied included exercise and diet.

Exercise was shown to improve QoL in 8 studies. Activity such as resistance exercise (weight lifting etc) carried out for 12-24 weeks significantly improved QoL in men with prostate cancer. It also improvied sexual functioning, fatigue and physical functioning. When compared to aerobic training (walking, jogging or cycling), resistance training had a greater long-term effect. However, 8-week cardiovascular programs in men undergoing radiation therapy led to an improvement in cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, fatigue, muscle strength and overall QoL.

6-month supervised exercise and 6-month home-based exercise led to improvements in physical functioning and performance at 6 and 12 months. This was compared to men who only received educational material about exercise. Improvements in QoL scores (such as cognitive health, fatigue, nausea, general fitness and health) were reported in men who underwent a 3-month group resistance and aerobic training program. This was compared to men who only received standard care.

Only one study (which involved dietary management and participation in cooking classes) reported on the link between diet and mindfulness practice for men and their spouses, reporting that it had a positive affect on QoL and improved healthy food consumption.

The authors concluded that exercise, in particular supervised programs and resistance training, and diet interventions improved QoL in men with prostate cancer.

Further studies need to be conducted to verify the benefit of lifestyle changes on QoL in men with prostate cancer.