Serum carbohydrate antigen 72-4 concentrations decrease with age in females but not in males in Beijing, China

Abstract

Objective Carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) is widely used in the diagnosis and monitoring of many cancers. However, there are few studies on the differences of CA72-4 concentrations in terms of age and gender. Methods A total of 10,957 healthy subjects were divided into two groups according to gender and three age groups. The serum CA72-4 were detected. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS. Results The CA72-4 concentration in female group was significantly higher than that in male group. The concentration of CA72-4 gradually decreased with age. Compared with the age >60 group, the CA72-4 concentrations were increased in the age 46–60 group and 16–45 group ( P >0.05, respectively). To better observe the age difference, the age 16–45 and 46–60 groups were combined into the age 16–60 group. In comparison to the age >60 group, the CA72-4 concentration of age 16–60 group was significantly increased ( P = 0.000). In the age >60 group, there was no difference between genders. Nevertheless, the difference between the sexes in the age 16–60 group was significant ( P = 0.023). Conclusions The reference interval of CA72-4 for local healthy population was established. CA72-4 concentrations gradually decreased with the increase of age, and CA72-4 concentration in females aged 16–60 years (0–18.0 U/mL) was higher than in males (0–14.5 U/mL); however, there was no gender difference in the age group above 60 years old (0–14.5 U/mL). Moreover, in male CA72-4 there was no significant difference among all age groups, while the potential mechanism of female changes with age needs further study.