To explore the association between preoperative mental health status and surgical outcomes following Robotic-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy (RARP).
This cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing RARP surgery for prostate cancer between October 2016 and May 2022 at a major public hospital in Sydney, Australia. The primary outcome was preoperative self-reported mental health status measured using the Mental Component Score (MCS) from the Short Form 36 survey (SF-36). Other variables included patients’ characteristics, surgical outcomes, postoperative quality of life, pain and decision regret. Data was analysed using linear regression analysis.
A total of 266 men underwent RARP during the studied period. Of these, 242 patients (91%) completed the preoperative survey and were analysed. Poorer preoperative mental health had significant univariate associations with younger age (P = 0.025), reduced access to economic resources (P = 0.043), diagnosis of a mental illness (P = 0.033), poorer mental health at six weeks and six months postoperatively (both P < 0.001), greater pain (P = 0.001), and higher decision regret (P = 0.001) six weeks following surgery. In the multivariate analysis, poorer preoperative mental health status was associated with younger age (P = 0.028) and poorer mental health at six weeks (P < 0.001) and six months (P = 0.025) postoperatively.
For patients undergoing RARP, poor preoperative mental health status was associated with younger age and poorer postoperative mental health. Future studies should investigate if targeted preoperative psychological interventions would improve postoperative mental health outcomes, specifically in younger men undergoing RARP.
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