Age-specific Reference Ranges for Prostate Specific Antigen from a Health Center in Korea

Lee, Tae Kyung; Chung, Tae Gyu; Kim, Choung Soo

Abstract

PURPOSE: The PSA is believed to be the most useful tumor marker available for prostate cancer. Several investigations were published which established the role of age-specific reference ranges in screening and early detection of prostate cancer. This study is to determine age-specific reference ranges for serum PSA concentration in a health center of Korea in comparison with those of other races.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between June, 1996 and May, 1997, a total of 18,928 Korean men aged 40 to 79 years who were examined in the health center of Asan Medical Center had serum PSA screening tests for prostate cancer. There were 9 cases of prostate cancer. Serum PSA concentrations of whom had no prostate cancer were determined with Tandem-R PSA assay (Hybritech). Descriptive statistics, including the median values, 25th, 75th and 95th percentiles of the distribution of serum PSA concentration, were calculated for 5-year and 10-year age-groups from aged 40 through 79. A regression model was used to characterize the distribution of the logarithm of serum PSA concentration by age.
RESULTS
The serum PSA concentration correlated directly with age(r=0.19; p<0.05). Adjusted for age, the serum PSA concentration was lower for Korean men than for Caucasian, black men or Japanese men. Thus the recommended age-specific reference ranges(95th percentile) for serum PSA concentration for Korean men of our health center were lower as well; 0.0-2.1 ng/ml for 40-49 years, 0.0-2.5 ng/ml for 50-59 years, 0.0-3.0 ng/ml for 60-69 years, 0.0-3.6 ng/ml for 70-79 years.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that the age-specific reference ranges for serum PSA concentration are lower for Korean men than for Caucasian or black men. Newly proposed age-specific reference ranges by our institute would be more valuable for Korean men.