No link found between prostate cancer and vasectomy
Good news for the millions of men worldwide who've had vasectomies: a new study disputes a link between this birth-control operation and prostate cancer. Two 1990 studies that connected prostate cancer and vasectomies caused men to question the procedure, even though no medical explanation for the connection could be found. Other research has both confirmed and denied the association in the past 10 years.
But the new study, published in the June 19, 2002, Journal of the American Medical Association, should ease men's minds. It involved over 2,000 men of European descent living in New Zealand, the country with the highest rate of vasectomies.
Researchers asked 953 men with prostate cancer and 1,260 who were cancer free about their medical histories — including whether they had had a vasectomy. It turned out that slightly fewer men with prostate cancer had undergone the surgery, which supports claims that going under the knife doesn't cause cancer. The same held true for the 38% of men studied who had had the procedure more than 25 years ago, which suggests that there are no long-term effects.
One reason why the link may have been found in earlier studies is that men who have vasectomies generally see their urologists more often, which may lead to more tumors being found in these men as compared to others, the researchers said. The study also found no link between prostate cancer and history of sexually transmitted disease, smoking, drinking alcohol, and number of children.
Prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 198,000 Americans this year, and it will take 31,500 lives. Although prostate cancer lags behind heart attacks, strokes, and lung cancer as the leading cause of death in American men, it's the disease many men fear most.
August 2002 Update
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