Table 1.
Characteristics of participants with total PSA between 4 and 25 ng/ml by biopsy result a
| Variable | No cancer | Cancer | p value | No or low-grade cancer | High-grade cancer | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients, n (%) | 1019 (48) | 1111 (52) | 1810 (85) | 318 (15) | ||
| Age at biopsy (yr) | 67 (63–68) | 67 (63–68) | 0.2 | 67 (63–68) | 67 (63–70) | <0.0001 |
| Total PSA (ng/ml) | 5.2 (4.5–6.6) | 5.9 (4.7–8.2) | <0.0001 | 5.3 (4.6–7.0) | 6.5 (5.0–10.0) | <0.0001 |
| Free PSA (ng/ml) | 1.25 (0.94–1.71) | 1.02 (0.73–1.43) | <0.0001 | 1.16 (0.84–1.58) | 1.05 (0.78–1.42) | 0.005 |
| Free/total PSA ratio | 0.23 (0.18–0.29) | 0.16 (0.12–0.22) | <0.0001 | 0.20 (0.15–0.27) | 0.15 (0.11–0.21) | <0.0001 |
| Intact PSA (ng/ml) | 0.73 (0.55–0.99) | 0.64 (0.46–0.88) | <0.0001 | 0.69 (0.50–0.94) | 0.69 (0.51–0.94) | 0.9 |
| Nicked/total PSA ratio | 0.093 (0.071–0.127) | 0.058 (0.039–0.085) | <0.0001 | 0.081 (0.055–0.113) | 0.050 (0.033–0.073) | <0.0001 |
| hK2 (ng/ml) | 0.064 (0.041–0.097) | 0.075 (0.049–0.116) | <0.0001 | 0.067 (0.044–0.103) | 0.079 (0.053–0.117) | <0.0001 |
| MSP (ng/ml) | 28 (19–38) | 23 (15–31) | <0.0001 | 26 (18–36) | 23 (15–31) | 0.001 |
| Gleason score at biopsy, n (%) | ||||||
| ≤6 | 791 (71) | 791 (44) | ||||
| 7 | 231 (21) | 231 (73) | ||||
| ≥8 | 87 (7.8) | 87 (27) | ||||
| Unknown | 2 (0.2) |
PSA = prostate-specific antigen; hK2 = human kallikrein-related peptidase 2; MSP = β-microseminoprotein
a
p values are reported for comparison between participants with no diagnosis and participants with a cancer diagnosis, and between participants with no or a low-grade cancer diagnosis and participants with a high-grade cancer diagnosis, and were determined using a Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. Results are presented as median (interquartile range) for continuous variables and as frequency (percentage) for categorical variables.