Elsevier

Urology

Volume 74, Issue 6, December 2009, Pages 1325-1330
Urology

Prostatic Diseases and Male Voiding Dysfunction
Rigorous Bicycling Does Not Increase Serum Levels of Total and Free Prostate-specific Antigen (PSA), the Free/Total PSA Ratio, Gonadotropin Levels, or Uroflowmetric Parameters

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2009.07.1219Get rights and content

Objectives

To determine whether cycling has an effect on serum PSA, gonadotropins, and uroflowmetric parameters.

Methods

A total of 34 healthy male athletes from the National Cycling Team and 24 healthy male student volunteers from University and medical staff were prospectively enrolled in the study. Blood samples for serum total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA), free PSA (fPSA, fPSA/tPSA, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone determinations were obtained before and after cyclists completed 300 km bicycle ride and with each cyclist seated without changing posture and with minimal movement for 10 minutes before blood collection. The cyclists also performed uroflowmetric and postvoid residual urine volume analysis before, and 1 hour after cycling course. Blood samples from the control group were drawn for serum hormones. They also underwent uroflowmetric and postvoid residual analysis.

Results

The athletes and the control group were well matched by age. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of serum tPSA, fPSA, f/t PSA values, FSH, LH, and testosterone levels and uroflowmetric parameters (P >.05). The differences between pre- and postcycling values for tPSA, fPSA, f/t PSA, FSH, LH, and uroflowmetric parameters were not statistically significant. The postcycling serum testosterone level was significantly lower than precycling levels (mean, 603.6 ng/dL [range, 300-949] vs 424.8 ng/dL [range, 193-723], P = .001]. There was no correlation between body mass index values, postcycling serum FSH, LH levels, age, and testosterone levels.

Conclusions

There is no effect of professional bicycle riding on serum total and fPSA levels and uroflowmetric parameters.

Section snippets

Subjects

A total of 34 healthy male athletes from the National Cycling Team (on a training camp) were studied. Their mean age was 22.4 years (range, 16-41 years), and body mass index (BMI) 22 kg/m2 (range, 19.7-26.1), and they cycled 591 km/wk (range, 250-900 km) for an average of 8.7 years (range, 2-28 years).

The controls were 24 healthy, nonsmoker male student volunteers from university and medical staff who had not been involved in any intense sports training program for at least 1 year before the

Results

The athletes had cycled for a period of 2-28 years (mean 8.7 ± 6.3), covering 250-900 km/wk (mean 591.2 ± 225.4). As shown in Table 1, the 2 groups were well matched by age [mean, 22.4 years (range, 16-41 years) vs 24.4 years (range, 17-35 years). The BMI (mean, 22 kg/m2 [range, 19.75-26.15 kg/m2] vs 24.7 kg/m2 [range, 20.2-28.3 kg/m2], P = .001) was significantly less in the cyclists, as expected.

The control group had only baseline measurements and did not contribute to the postcycling part of

The Effect of Cycling on Serum PSA Levels

As known, factors affecting serum PSA levels may obscure the accuracy of PSA screening for prostate cancer. In this study, we examined the effect of cycling on serum PSA and hormone levels in normal, healthy subjects, with no evidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. We obtained baseline (precycling) and postcycling tPSA and fPSA levels and compared the baseline levels with the results of healthy noncycling subjects. In our study, the male athletes had been cycling for a

Conclusions

According to the results of our study, there is no effect of professional bicycle riding on serum total and free PSA levels and uroflowmetric parameters.

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    Tolga Saka and Mustafa Sofikerim contributed equally to this work.

    Part of this study is accepted as an abstract for AUA Annual Meeting 2009, Chicago, IL.

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