UPDATE article – Change of PSA with age

UPDATE - Issue 10 - January 2002

Change of PSA with age

A letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,

First of all let me congratulate you and the editorial team for producing interesting newsletters. Their regular appearance is comforting to those of us who have had a brush with the problem.

It occurred to me that it may not be common knowledge that the average PSA rises with age. It might help if you could publish a chart showing the average PSA levels of a healthy male over the years say from 50 to 90{!}. This might allay some fears and would give a benchmark, albeit very approximate.

Stephen Griffiths

London

The expert consensus seems to be:

40 to 49 less than 2·5 ng/ml

50 to 59 less than 3·5 ng/ml

60 to 69 less than 4·5 ng/ml

over 70 less than 6·5 ng/ml

Ed.