How older patients' treatment preferences are influenced by disclosures about therapeutic uncertainty: surgery versus expectant management for localized prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES: There is an ongoing debate about the proper management of localized prostate cancer in older men. We assessed whether older patients differ in their willingness to accept surgery versus expectant management for a hypothetical early stage, low grade, clinically localized prostate carcinoma, and whether patients' current levels or past history of urologic dysfunction (difficulties initiating urination, failing to empty the bladder, urinary dribbling, getting up at night to urinate, and frequency of sexual activity) influence their decisions. We assessed patients' willingness to choose surgery over expectant management by varying the expected survival benefit in years (ESBs-em) of surgery over expectant management. DESIGN: Structured interviews with a consecutive series of male patients. SETTING: A university-based Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. PATIENTS: One hundred forty-eight patients seen consecutively in General Medicine Clinic at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, were enrolled in the study. Mean age of the patients was 66.3 years (SD = 10.3, range = 30–85); mean level of formal education was 12.6 years (SD = 2.7, range = 6–22). MEASUREMENTS: Patients were asked whether they would accept surgery or expectant management in one of 11 treatment comparisons. We varied the ESBs-em in 1-year increments from 0 years to 10 years. As described to patients, surgery carried a mortality risk at the time of treatment of 1 to 2%. Once any patient indicated a willingness to accept surgery at any of the treatment comparisons or if any patient reported preferring expectant management across all treatment comparisons, the elicitation procedure was stopped. All patients were asked to complete a urological and sexual functioning questionnaire to determine the presence of coexisting urological dysfunction and level of sexual activity both at present and in the past. RESULTS: Of the 148 patients enrolled in the study, 43.2% (64/148) preferred surgery with a zero expected life benefit over expectant management (ESBs-em = 0) and a 1 to 2% chance of dying within 1 month of surgery; 24.3% (36/148) rejected surgery as the expected life benefit of surgery was increased (0 < ESBs-em ≤10 years); 26.4% (39/148) preferred expectant management even when there was a 10-year expected life benefit of surgery; 4.7% (7/148) preferred that their physician make the decision for them; and 1.4% (2/148) of patients reported that they preferred radiation therapy, an option that was not offered to them explicitly. Our results suggest that older patients are more likely to report a preference for expectant management (OR = 1.07). Further, our results suggest that patients who report current urinary dribbling (OR = 9.03) are much more likely to prefer expectant management but that this preference decreases with the amount of time they have had this problem. Similarly, we find that patients who have difficulty with starting urination are much more likely to prefer surgery (OR = 0.13), and this preference is also mediated by the number of years they have experienced this problem. Treatment choice was not associated with formal education, present health status, or the other urological symptoms we assessed. CONCLUSION: Our study in an older male veteran population showed preferences for a variety of options in prostate cancer. Although the majority of men preferred surgery, a significant number preferred expectant management. Our results show that preferences reflect patients' experiences with physical problems associated with disease and that these experiences need to be explored and considered by patients and their providers when making treatment decisions. J Am Geriatr Soc 44:934–937, 1996.