Correlation between serum prostate specific antigen level and prostate volume in a community-based cohort: large-scale screening of 35,223 Korean men.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between prostate specific antigen (PSA) level and prostate volume (PV) according to age in a community-based population of Korean men enrolled in a large-scale screening program.

Methods: A total of 35,223 men who enrolled in the Korean Prostate Health Council Screening Program from January 2001 to December 2011 were included in this study. Patients with a serum PSA level of >10 ng/mL or younger than 40 years were excluded. We analyzed PSA level and PV as measured through transrectal ultrasonography according to stratified age cohorts. We used Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis according to age to describe the correlation between PSA level and PV.

Results: Mean PSA level and mean PV increased significantly with age (all P values <.001). Based on data from 5 age cohorts, mean PSA level increased about 0.3 ng/mL every 10 years and mean PV increased about 3 mL every 10 years. The slope of the linear regression between PSA level and PV was 4.582, and the slope of the linear regression increased with age. We derived equations relating PSA level and PV for the various age cohorts.

Conclusion: Based on a large-scale health screening program, we derived equations relating PSA level to PV according to age group. These data provide a baseline for the normal population by avoiding the interventional bias of urinary symptoms, in contrast to previous data derived from patients who visited hospitals because of prostate-related health concerns.