title: The age-specific reference intervals for tPSA, fPSA, and %fPSA in healthy Han ethnic male.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most common malignancies in male, and has become the fastest growing malignancy in recent years. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is widely used as a tumor marker to screen for PC. Many studies have been performed to define the reference intervals (RIs) for total circulating PSA (tPSA). The results were different among different nations and races, even in the same race. Few researches have been performed on the RIs of free PSA (fPSA) and the ratio of free to total PSA (%fPSA). In this study, we aimed to simultaneously determine the age-specific RIs for tPSA, fPSA, and %fPSA in the healthy Han ethnic male.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1862 apparently healthy male aged from 21 to 94 years were included in our study. Nonparametric 95th percentile intervals were used to define the RIs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reference limits in different age groups (21-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80, and ≥81 years) were 2.07, 3.59, 4.93, 6.83, and 7.73 ng/mL for tPSA, and 0.60, 0.76, 0.83, 1.30, and 2.41 ng/mL for fPSA. The RIs of %fPSA were ≥0.16 for 21-50 years and ≥0.13 for male over 50 years old.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We established age-specific RIs for tPSA, fPSA and %fPSA. The newly established RIs should be more suitable for Chinese Han ethnic male. It will be valuable for physicians to make exact medical decision and appropriate medical intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Henan provinces, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Aiguo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Henan provinces, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Shijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Henan provinces, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Henan provinces, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ming
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D002681:China; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen
keywords: 
  fPSA
  ; 
  tPSA
  ; %fPSA; prostate cancer; reference interval