Men who have surgery for localised prostate cancer are more likely to report persistent urinary incontinence compared with those having other forms of treatment, an Australian study shows.

And this remained the case up to 15 years, regardless of whether nerve-sparing techniques were used, the findings showed.

In the longest follow-up study to date on quality of life for men surviving prostate cancer compared with a control group, researchers led by the Cancer Council NSW found urinary, bowel and sexual dysfunction persisted.

The participants in the NSW Prostate Cancer Care and Outcomes Study included 1642 men aged under 70 identified through the NSW Cancer Registry and 786 matched controls without a diagnosis randomly recruited from the state’s electoral roll.