Decision aid program affect regret in patients with prostate cancer treatment: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Introduction: Long-term treatment and associated side effects can affect a patient's quality of life, one of which is the patient's regret during the treatment program of prostate cancer. The Decision Aid (DA) program can help patients with chronic diseases to face disease treatment, but the effect on the treatment of prostate cancer patients has not been evaluated further. This study aims to assess the effect of a decision aid program on treatment regret in prostate cancer patients. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with the search engines PubMed and Google Scholar from January–March 2023. The inclusion criteria used were randomized controlled-trial studies with full text in English, published for the last ten years, the decision regret during or after treatment program was reported and the type of regret measurement was described. Results: Based on a literature search, 5 studies met the inclusion criteria. The relationship between decision aid and regret was not significantly lower, but has significant effect for long-term (12 months) and in minority ethnic. Studies on a wider and heterogeneous population are needed to assess the effect of decision aids on the perspective of patients with prostate cancer programs. Conclusions: Decision aid may affect the level of regret of prostate cancer patients in the treatment program.