Population survey on prostate cancer

Through the population-based health survey, the health and quality of life of men both with and without prostate cancer will be mapped. In this way, we gain knowledge about how common the various late effects are, and who is affected, for example based on what treatment they have received. 

It can be very demanding to live with late effects after cancer treatment, and it is important for this patient group that we get an overview of the burden and duration of late effects and how these affect quality of life. In this way, treatment and follow-up can be even better in the long term. In our population survey, we use validated questionnaires, EORTC QLQ-C30 from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and EPIC-26, which is widely used for prostate cancer.

5000 new cases each year

Every year, about 5,000 men are diagnosed with cancer of the prostate. 95% of patients survive their prostate cancer for five years or more.

In 2019, 54,336 men were alive after a prostate cancer diagnosis, and 14,816 of these were diagnosed more than 10 years earlier.

Curative treatment of prostate cancer takes place either as surgery (radical prostatectomy, removal of the prostate), radiation therapy or active surveillance. In the event of active surveillance, surgery/radiotherapy is awaited while the patient is followed up with PSA measurements from blood tests, new biopsies and possibly MRI.

Urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and impaired bowel function are among the late effects experienced by some men who have been radically treated for prostate cancer, but so far little has been known about how extensive and stressful these symptoms are.

Results from the population survey are published in the annual report from the National Quality Registry for Prostate Cancer.