Prostate cancer: recent trends in Korea.

INTRODUCTION

We investigated the yearly changes in the baseline prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and the incidence of prostate cancer in men screened at our health promotion center from 1995 to 2008 to determine the trends in prostate cancer in Korea.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

The participants were 6,007 men, who had PSA screening for the first time at the health promotion center. Changes in the baseline PSA levels, age, body mass index (BMI), and cholesterol levels were investigated. We evaluated the percentage of participants with a PSA level >or=2.0 and 4.0 ng/ml; the men were stratified by a 5-year age range, over two calendar years. In addition, we reviewed the results of their prostate biopsies.

RESULTS

The median baseline PSA level and the percentage of participants with a PSA level >or=2.0 and 4.0 ng/ml was not increased. The univariate and multivariate analyses, controlled for age and BMI, showed that two calendar years was not an independent predictive factor of the PSA level. The biopsy compliance rate increased from 36% during 1997-1998 to 70% during 2005-2006.

CONCLUSIONS

The data from this study suggest that the increase in the incidence of prostate cancer might have been inaccurate in Korea.