Evaluation of serum prostatic-specific antigen levels in diabetic and non-diabetic men diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

Background: Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been noted to be lower in type 2 diabetes mellitus than in non-diabetic men. There seems to be a link between diabetes and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Many researchers have implicated high insulin levels in diabetics as contributing to the underlying aetiology in the development of BPH. We aimed at evaluating serum PSA levels in diabetic and non-diabetic men with a diagnosis of BPH.
Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients who presented in the urology clinic of our facility for follow-up review between April 2021 and August 2021. One hundred and two patients were included in the study and relevant data extracted from their case notes.
Results: Mean age of all patients was 64.25±10.26 years ranging from 41 to 97 years. 22.5% of the men were diabetic while 77.5% were non-diabetic. Diabetic men were older than non-diabetics and serum PSA was lower in diabetics than non-diabetics (P-value >0.05). Also more diabetic men had PSA in the region of 0-4ng/ml while more non-diabetic men had PSA ranging from >4 to 10.0ng/ml.
Conclusion: Diabetics have lower serum PSA than normal men. This should be taken into consideration when evaluating men with prostatic symptoms as serum PSA alone may be misleading in predicting or directing further assessments. Other factors that could influence serum PSA should be considered.