The ultimate treatment goal for nmCRPC is to maintain the patient’s QOL and delay time to metastasis. Therefore, each of the three clinical trials evaluated QOL using a verified questionnaire.
In the SPARTAN trial, health-related QOL (HR-QOL) was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Prostate (FACT-P) and European Quality of Life (EQ) visual analog scale (VAS)
[46][47]. After 29 months, for FACT-P, the APA and placebo groups reported mean scores of −0.99 ± 0.98 and −3.29 ± 1.97, respectively. Additionally, for EQ-VAS, the mean scores for the APA and placebo groups were 1.44 ± 0.87 and 0.26 ± 1.75, respectively. There was no statistical difference, but the APA group had slightly better QOL than did the placebo group. In the PROSPER trial, many comparisons were made between placebo and ENZA groups regarding QOL. The FACT-P total score for the ENZA group was significantly better than that for the placebo group (HR 0.83; 95% CI 0.69–0.99;
p = 0.037). The mean score for the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form, which assesses pain severity, was reported to be better in the ENZA group than in the placebo group (HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.57–0.97;
p = 0.028). In addition, patients showed better bowel symptoms, function, and urinary symptoms. The HR-QOL with DARO was reported based on preliminary data
[48]. DARO significantly delayed pain progression (HR 0.65; 95% CI 0.53–0.79;
p < 0.001) more than placebo did. Moreover, the delay in urinary symptoms was clinically significant with DARO (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.54–0.76;
p < 0.01) than with placebo. A recent study compared HR-QOL outcomes between APA and ENZA through matching-adjusted indirect comparisons. They reported that, based on FACT-P scores, APA showed better results than ENZA did
[49]. However, since there is no direct comparison between the three drugs yet, it is difficult to evaluate which drug facilitates superior QOL. All three drugs may offer patients with nmCRPC a therapeutic option while maintaining QOL.