ScienceDaily (May 18, 2008) — Managing your cholesterol may also help you manage your prostate- specific antigen (PSA) level. Data presented at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association explored the relationship between low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and PSA prior to beginning statin therapy.

Data collected from a study of 1,214 men prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) between 1990 and 2006 at the Durham Veteran Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina shows that PSA levels were reduced after starting statin medications and that this decline was proportional to the decline in LDL cholesterol.

In 2007, a retrospective study showed that men taking statins to lower their cholesterol also experienced a proportional decline in their PSA levels. This new study confirms that evidence and highlights the fact that cholesterol may play a role in prostate cancer development and progression.

Data was collected from men who were free of prostate cancer, had not undergone prostate surgery or taken medicine to alter androgen levels, and whose PSA was between 0.1 and 10.0 ng/ml. The outcome of this study, if confirmed by additional research, could provide further evidence for the role cholesterol plays in prostate biology.

The results of this study indicate that cholesterol and PSA are valuable indicators of overall health for men and should continue to be monitored together. It remains to be seen whether or not lowering your PSA through statin medications could potentially mask the presence of prostate disease.

Journal reference:

1. Hamilton RJ, Platz EA, Goldberg KC, Freedland SJ: The association between cholesterol and PSA. J Urol, suppl., 2008; 179: 721, abstract 2094. [link]

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