The partners of patients with prostate cancer grapple with their own quality-of-life issues that impact their sexual well-being, a new study shows. Using the first questionnaire of its kind, the authors uncovered key challenges faced by patients' wives and female partners, including difficulties with communication about their sexual needs, inadequate sexual health counseling by physicians, and feelings of isolation and loss of intimacy. Among the most common forms of cancer in American men, prostate cancer and its treatments are well known to cause side effects ranging from erectile dysfunction to decreased libido.
Although their impact on patients' partners has been recognized, the details of their struggles had until now remained poorly understood and not easily assessed. As a result, they do not receive appropriate support from health care providers . To shed light on and help address these concerns, a team led by researchers at NYU Langone Health's Perlmutter Cancer Center developed the questionnaire to evaluate the sexual health of 200 female partners from across the U.
S. The findings are published in the journal European Urology Oncology . The survey responders consistently cited "loss of connection" as a couple, high levels of distress, and poor communication with their spouses and health care providers about the impact of sexual dysfunction from prostate cancer treatment.
In addition, they showed higher levels of depression than American women in the same age groups e.
