Identification of distinct symptom profiles in prostate cancer patients with cancer-related cognitive impairment undergoing androgen deprivation therapy: A latent class analysis.

Objective: To identify latent classes of cognitive impairment and co-occurring symptoms (fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, depression) as clusters in patients with prostate cancer undergoing androgen deprivation therapy and to explore the predictors among distinct latent classes. Methods: A total of 228 patients with prostate cancer were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The assessment instrument included the Perceived Cognitive Impairment Scale, the Fatigue Severity Scale, the Athens Insomnia Scale, the Brief Pain Inventory, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form, the Charlson comorbidity index, and General Information questionnaire. The identification of different patient subgroups was done by the latent class analysis. Results: The study identified three distinct latent classes: all low symptoms (class 1, 32%), high depression symptoms (class 2, 37.7%), and high physical symptoms (fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain) with high cognitive impairment (class 3, 30.3%). Patients who had higher Charlson comorbidity index ( Conclusions: This study exhibited the inter-individual variability of symptom experience in prostate cancer patients with cognitive impairment undergoing androgen deprivation therapy. The result suggests that more emphasis should be placed on screening for fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain, and future interventions should focus on loneliness and physical activity.