Assessing mental wellbeing in prostate cancer
Oliver Brunckhorst, Urology PhD Fellow, King’s College London (KCL), [pictured] has won an award at the American Urology Association Annual Conference 2022 for his groundbreaking research into the relationship between physical and mental health in prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer in Europe, and is known to significantly impact patients' mental wellbeing, particularly as the number of men who are surviving the disease increases. Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, along with related outcomes such as fear of recurrence, body image perception and masculine self-esteem are all impacted by prostate cancer diagnoses. However, uncertainty remains regarding patient, oncological and treatment factors associated with poorer mental wellbeing outcomes.
Mr Brunckhorst has led the ‘Mind-P study’ study which aims to explore these factors by following patients for 12 months across six sites. The research has been conducted in collaboration with a number of NHS organisations, including King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trusts. Interim analysis of the Mind-P study suggests a significant proportion of patients experience mental wellbeing problems. Age and ethnicity appear to be important associative factors for these, along with baseline depressive and anxiety scores, and routine screening based on this should be considered to improve quality of life in patients.
Mr Brunckhorst was awarded best presentation when he showed the preliminary results at the prostate cancer podium session during the American Urology Association Conference 2022. Hear more about the research from Oliver below:
*Preliminary analysis of the MIND-P study can be found here.
**Links to systematic reviews mentioned in the video can be found below: