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Purpose: We examined quality of life in spouses of men in the Post-Adjuvant Androgen Deprivation trial after radical prostatectomy., Methods: Men at high risk of prostate cancer recurrence were randomized to receive androgen deprivation therapy or observation. Forty-three couples completed telephone interviews every 6 months for 2 years assessing women's mood disturbance, mental and physical health, and sexual function and bother as well as men's symptoms and sociodemographic and marital variables. We used linear mixed modeling to explore relationships between wives' quality of life and time, treatment group, and men's symptoms., Results: Women's mental health functioning improved over time (p < 0.05). Furthermore, women with husbands in the observation group had worse mood disturbance (p = 0.01) and poorer mental health (p = 0.02) than women with husbands in treatment. Men's symptoms were associated with worse physical health in wives (p = 0.02). Women also reported worse sexual function at 18 and 24 months compared with baseline (p = 0.02), but ratings of sexual bother were unrelated to time, treatment, and symptoms., Conclusions: These exploratory results are consistent with research demonstrating that spousal cancer-related distress decreases over time. Treatment group differences suggest that an examination of caregiving in the context of uncertainty is warranted. Also, the physical burden of caregiving may intensify when men have more symptoms. To inform interventions, future studies should clarify how treatment and symptoms influence wives' distress by examining expectations and communication.

Objective: To assess testosterone and haemoglobin kinetics in the Postoperative Adjuvant Androgen Deprivation (PAAD) trial, and correlate these with quality of life (QoL) in this prospective randomized study., Patients and Methods: Forty-three patients met the criteria for high-risk cancer after RRP (Gleason score > or = 8, pT3c or Gleason score 7 concomitant with pT3a/b and positive surgical margins) and were prospectively randomized to either observation or AD for 12 months. Haemoglobin and testosterone levels were determined and QoL surveyed at regular intervals for 24 months., Results: Serum testosterone levels were castrate in 19 of 21 treated patients at 3 months and all at 6 months after starting AD. Levels failed to return to normal at 6 months after stopping treatment in six of 16 (38%) patients, and at 12 months in three of 17 (18%). AD caused a delay in the recovery of haemoglobin levels to normal after RRP. There was no statistically significant decline in the Short Form-36 QoL score with AD. Scores on the University of California-Los Angeles Sexual Functioning Scale were decreased during AD, but returned to a level not statistically significantly different from controls after stopping treatment., Conclusion: A year of adjuvant AD after RRP affected serum haemoglobin, testosterone and sexual function reversibly, with return to control levels within the subsequent year in most patients. No significant effect on overall QoL with AD was detected in the study.