ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To analyze the relationship of age to serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels among Koreans without clinically evident prostate cancer in a community-based study. MATERIALS AND METHOD: A total of 375 healthy men aged 50 to 79, residing in the small farming villages of Jeong-Eup county, Korea were examined with serum PSA(Hybritech Tandem-R) and digital rectal examination. One case of patient with prostate cancer was excluded. RESULTS: The serum PSA concentration is correlated with patient age(In PSA=-1.56+0.0257 x Age, r=0.32, p-value<0.0001). The recommended age-specific reference ranges of serum PSA(95th percentile) for men aged 50-59 years is 0-2.80ng/m1; for 60-69 years,0-3.56ng/m1; and for 70-79 years, 0-4.57ng/m1. CONCLUSIONS: The serum PSA concentration is correlated with patient age in Korean men and the age-specific PSA reference ranges for Korean are lower than those for Caucasian.