Objectives: There are two objectives: (1) Examine quality of life (QoL) and mood between chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) patients and spouses over a 2-year period; (2) Longitudinally assess CP/CPPS patient pain, disability, and pain catastrophizing over a 2-year period.
Methods: Forty-four CP/CPPS diagnosed men and their spouses participated. Patients completed demographics, QoL, depression, anxiety, pain, disability, and catastrophizing across the study. Spouses completed QoL, depression, and anxiety. Patients/spouses were not different in education, but patients were older (49 years; SD = 9.56). The average symptom duration was 8.68 (SD = 7.61). Couples were married or common law, and majority of patients were employed. Due to attrition, approximately 21 couples provided analyzable data.
Results: Patients and spouses physical QoL did not statistically differ over time from one another, and both increased over the study period. Mental QoL increased over time, but patients reported lower QoL. Patients reported more depression and anxiety, but both measures remained stable over time for spouses and patients. Finally, patient only analyses showed that disability did decrease over time from a high at 6 months, but pain and catastrophizing showed stability over the 2 years.
Conclusions: Patients reported worse mental QoL, depression, and anxiety compared to spouses, and spouses reported significant stable levels of depression and anxiety similar to patients. Further, patient catastrophizing, pain, and disability did not reduce over the 2-year assessment period. These results provide further impetus for the development and implementation of mental health strategies alongside continued medical efforts in couples suffering from CP/CPPS.