Shim et al.1 report in the January issue of Spinal Cord that the smaller prostate size in their entire spinal cord injury patient sample relative to controls reaches a probability of 0.07, a little short of the 0.05 level desired. If , however, only those with ‘severe’ injury—that is T10 or higher and ASIA Grade A, B or C—are compared, it is likely that a greater contrast with controls and a greater statistical difference will be found.2 This comparison has physiological meaning as T10 is the lowest level of sympathetic afferents to the hypothalamus and the neuroendocrine ramifications.3 It is possible that the smaller sample suggested has been obscured statistically by the broader sample used in the comparison.
References
Shim HB, Kim YD, Jung TY, Lee JK, Ku JH . Prostate-specific antigen and prostate volume in Korean men with spinal cord injury: a case–control study. Spinal Cord 2008; 46: 11–15.
Frisbie JH, Kumar S, Aguilera EJ, Yalla S . Prostate atrophy and spinal cord lesions. Spinal Cord 2006; 44: 24–27.
Vaalasti A, Hervonen A . Autonomic innervation of the human prostate. Investig Urol 1980; 17: 293–297.
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Frisbie, J. Statistics and the prostate gland. Spinal Cord 46, 459 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2008.19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2008.19
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