The association of smoking with urinary and sexual function recovery following radical prostatectomy

Objective: To investigate the association of smoking with post-prostatectomy functional recovery in a large population-based cohort using standardised outcome measures. 

Patients and Methods: We conducted a cohort study and reported findings according to the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines. We used a registry with prospectively gathered patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) regarding health and morbidity. We included all men who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) for localised prostate cancer, without (neo)adjuvant hormone or radiotherapy treatment. In our analysis, we compared Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite-26 (EPIC-26) scores between people who had ever smoked and those who had not during 24 months’ follow-up. We identified significant confounders by means of a causal directed acyclic graph, adjusted for these, and performed subgroup and sensitivity analyses. 

Results: In total, 2676 patients were included in the analysis. PROM data were available for 61% of the total 4356 otherwise eligible participants. Multivariable regression analysis showed that patients who had ever smoked (ever smokers) scored 11 points lower for sexual function (95% confidence interval −15.0, −7.0) compared to never smokers during 24 months’ follow-up. Subgroup analysis showed that individuals with baseline scores above 80 were more at risk of sexual function loss. Urinary incontinence scores were similar between ever smokers and never smokers. 

Conclusion: Smoking was associated with lower sexual function scores in the first 2 years after RP, but not with changes in urinary incontinence outcomes.