Effect of Age on Selenium and PSA Levels of Prostate Cancer Patients

This study determined levels of serum selenium and prostate specific antigen (PSA) in patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. The patients aged from 40 years and above were among those attending the Urology Clinic of Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, from October, 2006 to March, 2008. Samples of sixty (60) patients were analyzed for serum PSA using the Enzyme Immunoassay method and selenium using the electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Serum samples of forty (40) aged-matched controls selected randomly from a cross section of socioeconomic groups were also analyzed for serum PSA and selenium. The mean serum PSA and selenium concentrations of the 60 patients were 33.218.55g/L and 17.479.47g/L respectively. The controls had mean serum PSA and selenium concentrations of 2.881.65g/L and 8329.91g/L respectively. The mean serum PSA of patients were significantly (pless than0.05) higher than those of controls, while the mean selenium concentration of controls were significantly (pless than0.05) higher than those of patients. The serum PSA values increased with increase in age, while serum selenium values showed a decline with increase in age. These finding showed that men with low serum selenium are at risk of developing prostate cancer. It also suggests the need to include serum selenium as a routine test for men from 40years of age and above.