Vasectomy is a surgical contraception procedure in men. While the process is minor, it is associated with some short-term complications. However, recent studies have suggested that vasectomy could increase the risk of prostate cancer. This study aims to investigate the risk of prostate cancer associated with vasectomy.
This population-based matched cohort study included a total of 326,607 men aged 20-65 years who had undergone a vasectomy. The year of cohort entry, geographical region, and comorbidity score of men who underwent a vasectomy and those who did not were considered. The primary outcome of the study was incident prostate cancer, along with prostate cancer grade, stage, and mortality.
After a median follow-up of 10.9 years, a total of 3,462 prostate cancer cases were identified, 1,843 (53.2%) in the vasectomy group and 1,619 (46.8%) in the non-vasectomy group. An unadjusted analysis showed that vasectomy was associated with a slightly increased risk of prostate cancer (hazard ratio 1.13). But after the adjustment of health-seeking behavior, no significant association was found. Besides, no relationship was found between vasectomy and high-grade/advanced-stage prostate cancer or mortality.
The research concluded that vasectomy surgery was not associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer or mortality.
Ref: https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5546
