Database searching identified 631 potentially relevant studies, and a further 42 studies were identified through reference list checking and snowballing techniques from initial search hits and key papers. Following de-duplication, 563 search hits were assessed by two reviewers independently, and 75 papers selected for full text assessment. 19 papers were ultimately included. Details of full-text exclusions can be found in figure 1 below.
Risk of bias assessment using the QUADAS-2 tool demonstrated a number of potential areas of bias in the included studies (see table 2 and figure 2). None of the studies were assessed as having a low risk of bias with regards to the reference standard test, which was almost always a Transrectal Ultrasound-guided (TRUS) biopsy. TRUS biopsy suffers from a significant risk of false negative or misclassification of prostate cancer diagnosis owing to the random nature of sampling of the prostate(7). The reference standard was performed with knowledge of the index test (PSA) in 16 of 19 studies. Patient populations were drawn from hospital urology clinics in all but one study, affecting applicability to other clinical settings. Limited information with regards to patient selection was available in eight studies, and the majority had a low risk of bias with regards to the conduct of the index test.
Table 2 – Risk of bias assessment of included studies using QUADAS-2 tool

Table 3
– Details of included studies
First Author
|
Year
|
Country
|
Number of patients
|
Mean age (range)*
|
Setting
|
PSA range
|
Stage/Grade data
|
Reference test
|
Abdrabo et al (8)
|
2011
|
Sudan
|
118
|
70 years (56 – 83)
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
2.5-10ng/mL
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Agnihotri et al (9)
|
2014
|
India
|
875 biopsied (of 4,702 patients)
|
66 years (50 – 75)
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Aragona et al (10)
|
2005
|
Italy
|
3,171 biopsied (of 16,298 patients)
|
62 years (40 – 75)
|
15 hospital urology clinics
|
Any
|
Clinical TNM staging
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Chang et al (11)
|
2015
|
Taiwan
|
225
|
PCa 72 years;
BPH 67 years
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
TNM stage and Gleason Score
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Chavan et al (12)
|
2009
|
India
|
440 biopsied (of 922 patients)
|
64 years (40 – 95)
|
One tertiary hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Galic et al (13)
|
2003
|
Croatia
|
88 biopsied (of 944 patients)
|
≥50 years
|
Recruited from two villages to attend hospital clinic
|
Not stated
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Hofer et al (14)
|
2000
|
Germany
|
188
|
PCa 70 years; BPH 68 years
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy / TURP/ non-cancer surgery
|
Lee et al (15)
|
2006
|
Korea
|
201
|
63 years
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
< 4ng/mL
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Magistro et al (16)
|
2020
|
Germany
|
1,125
|
70 years
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
TNM stage and Gleason Score
|
HoLEP (+ mpMRI with targeted and systemic biopsy for some patients)
|
Meigs et al (17)
|
1996
|
USA
|
1,524
|
50-79 years
|
One hospital urology clinic + two BPH study cohorts
|
Any
|
Clinical T stage
|
TRUS biopsy / TURP/ non-cancer surgery
|
Nordstrom et al (18)
|
2021
|
Sweden
|
1,554
|
64 years (50 – 69)
|
Population-based screening study cohort
|
>3ng/mL
|
TNM stage and Gleason Score
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Patel et al (19)
|
2009
|
UK
|
647 biopsied (of 3,976 patients)
|
65 years (15 – 91)
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Pepe et al (20)
|
2007
|
Italy
|
403 biopsied (of 13,294 patients)
|
62 years (40 – 75)
|
Two hospital urology clinics
|
<4ng/mL
|
Pathological T stage
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Rashid et al (21)
|
2012
|
Bangladesh
|
206
|
>50 years
|
One hospital urology clinic and one nursing home
|
>2.5ng/mL
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Richie et al (22)
|
1993
|
USA
|
1,167 biopsied (of 6,630 patients)
|
63 years (50 – 96)
|
Six medical centres
|
Any
|
TNM stage and Gleason Score
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Seo et al (23)
|
2007
|
Korea
|
4,967
|
66 years (40 – 96)
|
25 hospital urology clinics
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Shahab et al (24)
|
2013
|
Indonesia
|
404
|
64 years (34 – 84)
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
TNM stage and Gleason Score
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Tauro et al (25)
|
2009
|
India
|
100
|
68 years
|
One hospital urology clinic
|
Any
|
No
|
TRUS biopsy
|
Wymenga et al (26)
|
2000
|
The Netherlands
|
716
|
Not reported
|
Two hospital urology clinics
|
Any
|
Clinical T stage
|
TRUS biopsy / TURP/ prostatectomy
|
PSA – Prostate Specific Antigen; TRUS – Transrectal Ultrasound guided biopsy; PCa – Prostate cancer; BPH – Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy; TNM – Tumour-node-metastasis; TURP – Transurethral resection of the prostate; HoLEP – Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate; mpMRI – multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging
* Age range and/or mean not present in table if not reported
Table 3 summarises the features of the included studies. There was a wide range of countries and study sizes. One study focused on a symptomatic cohort within a population screening study, and the remainder were set in hospital urology clinics. No study was performed in a primary care population. Five studies gathered stage and grade data. All but one study used TRUS biopsy as a reference test, with three studies also gathering diagnostic data from Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP) or other urological surgical procedures involving the prostate.
Table 4 shows the measures of diagnostic accuracy calculated using reported data in 14 included studies featuring 14,489 patients that considered a PSA level of greater than or equal to 4ng/mL as abnormal. The remaining five studies focused on populations in a specific part of the PSA range – either a low or raised PSA level. Meta-analysis showed an estimated combined sensitivity of a PSA greater than or equal to 4ng/mL for any prostate cancer of 0.93 (95% CI 0.88, 0.96) and a combined specificity of 0.20 (95% CI 0.12, 0.33) (See figure 3). There was significant heterogeneity between included studies (sensitivity I2 98.97, specificity I2 99.61). Receiver Operator Curve (ROC) analysis showed an AUC of 0.72 (95% CI 0.68, 0.76) (See figure 4).
Three studies included in the meta-analysis collected stage and grade data for prostate cancer cases; however, none of these studies reported data for clinically significant prostate cancer diagnoses at a PSA cut-off of ≥4ng/mL. Chang et al(11) did not report the accuracy of PSA, but showed a statistically significant difference in free:total PSA ratio for a Gleason Score of seven or more compared to Gleason Score of six or lower (11.69 +/- 0.98 vs 16.47 +/- 2.25, p = 0.029). Richie et al(22) did not report the Gleason Score data collected, but found higher PSA levels and increasing age were associated with a higher risk of metastatic prostate cancer. Shahab et al(24) identified a PSA cut-off of 6.95ng/mL for differentiating moderate versus high Gleason Score (which was not defined).
Table 4
– Diagnostic accuracy of PSA ≥ 4ng/mL for prostate cancer detection in symptomatic patients
Author
|
Year
|
Sensitivity
|
Specificity
|
Positive Predictive Value
|
Negative Predictive Value
|
Abdrabo
|
2011
|
0.92
|
0.24
|
0.35
|
0.87
|
Agnihotri
|
2014
|
0.99
|
0.05
|
0.59
|
0.80
|
Aragona
|
2005
|
0.92
|
0.15
|
0.38
|
0.76
|
Chang
|
2015
|
0.89
|
0.09
|
0.19
|
0.76
|
Chavan
|
2009
|
0.96
|
0.03
|
0.18
|
0.79
|
Galic
|
2003
|
0.91
|
0.32
|
0.47
|
0.85
|
Hofer
|
2000
|
0.92
|
0.29
|
0.46
|
0.85
|
Meigs
|
1996
|
0.61
|
0.74
|
0.34
|
0.89
|
Rashid
|
2012
|
0.72
|
0.46
|
0.28
|
0.85
|
Richie
|
1993
|
0.82
|
0.48
|
0.31
|
0.90
|
Seo
|
2007
|
0.98
|
0.04
|
0.33
|
0.87
|
Shahab
|
2013
|
0.98
|
0.19
|
0.13
|
0.98
|
Tauro
|
2009
|
1.00
|
0.38
|
0.40
|
1
|
Wymenga
|
2000
|
0.95
|
0.16
|
0.44
|
0.82
|