Serum Prostatic Specific Antigen Levels among Adult Male Patients Seen at Two Nigerian Tertiary Hospitals

Abstract

Background: The clinical utilization of PSA  test in early detection and monitoring therapy of cancer of prostate is influenced by demographic factors like age, geographical location, metabolic  factors, method of analysis  and  sensitivity and specificity of the test. Hence, we retrospectively compared the serum PSA levels of adult male patients seen at two Nigerian tertiary hospitals. Methodology: The retrospective study was conducted at two Nigerian tertiary hospitals, Federal medical centre, Yola and Makurdi between January and December 2019. Study participants were  adult males with lower urinary tract symptoms presented at the Urology units and referred to the hospital chemical pathology laboratories  for total  PSA assay  using quantitative method, Time –resolved Flourence immunoassay, Bioscience Diagnostic Technology Ltd, China. Data  extracted  includes,age, clinical details, and PSA levels. Descriptive  analysis using SPSS version 21.0 was employed. A total of 430 data  were  extracted, 201 from Yola and 229 from Makurdi Result: Significant difference was observed in the mean age, 61.67+0.09years vs 58.61+58.61years(p=0.009)  and  mean serum PSA level of patients21.88+3.04ng/ml vs 14.81+0.74ng/ml(p=0.041). Significant difference was observed in the  mean serum  PSA level(1.33+0.09ng/ml vs 1.65+0.08ng/ml)(p=0.011) of patients with PSA level (LUTS) within the  range of  <4ng/ml,and  those with  >10ng/ml(65.88+0.09 vs 40.43+3.66ng/ml)(p=0.003). 211(49.1%, 51.7 vs 46.7%)had PSA level 4ng/ml, 86(20%, 17.9% vs 21.8%)within  4-10ng/ml and 133(30.9%, 30.3 vs 31.4%) had >10ng/ml. No significant correlation was observed  between PSA level and age, but  increased with  advancement in age. Diabetes Mellitus(DM)(0.9%) and co-existence of DM and hypertension(2.0%) were  recorded  as comorbidities Conclusion: The study findings affirmed high PSA level and increase with age in suscepted cases of cancer of prostate. it serves as a  baseline epidemiological template for further comprehensive study for better understanding  of PSA level in clinical diagnosis and  create awareness of the disease.