Prostate cancer: recent trends in Korea.
BACKGROUND
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.


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.
Chi
Byung Hoon
BH
Department of Urology, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chang
In Ho
IH
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D015854:Up-Regulation
D002784:Cholesterol; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen