Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Association of Vasectomy and Prostate Cancer Among Men in a Maryland Cohort

  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the association of vasectomy with prostate cancer.

Methods Participants were male members of the CLUE II cohort followed since 1989. On a questionnaire mailed in 1996, the men were asked if they had had a vasectomy and their age at vasectomy. Between 1996 and April 2004, 78 prostate cancer cases were confirmed among the 3373 men who were at least 35 years old at baseline and who completed the questions about vasectomy. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate age-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) of prostate cancer.

Results The HR for prostate cancer for men who had had a vasectomy was 2.03 (95% CI: 1.24–3.32). Risk of low-grade disease (HR=2.87; 95% CI 1.49–5.54), but not high-grade disease (HR=0.99; 95% CI 0.36–2.76), was higher in men who had had a vasectomy. No statistically significant associations were observed for low- or high-stage disease. The association for vasectomy was more pronounced in men who were 40 years at the time of vasectomy (HR=2.63; 95% CI 1.40–4.94) than in men who were younger at vasectomy.

Conclusions The results from this prospective study suggest a positive association between vasectomy and prostate cancer, especially low-grade disease.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. RJ Magnani JM Haws GT Morgan PM Gargiullo AE Pollack LM Koonin (1999) ArticleTitleVasectomy in the United States, 1991 and 1995 Am J Public Health 89 92–94 Occurrence Handle9987475

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. National Institute of Child Health and Development (1996) Facts about vasectomy safety: National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services.

  3. PJ Schwingl HA Guess (2000) ArticleTitleSafety and effectiveness of vasectomy Fertil Steril 73 923–936 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0015-0282(00)00482-9 Occurrence Handle10785217

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. FJ Massey SuffixJr. GS Bernstein WM O’Fallon et al. (1984) ArticleTitleVasectomy and health. Results from a large cohort study JAMA 252 1023–1029 Occurrence Handle10.1001/jama.252.8.1023 Occurrence Handle6748206

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. E Giovannucci TD Tosteson FE Speizer A Ascherio MP Vessey GA Colditz (1993) ArticleTitleA retrospective cohort study of vasectomy and prostate cancer in US men JAMA 269 878–882 Occurrence Handle10.1001/jama.269.7.878 Occurrence Handle8123059

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. LK Dennis DV Dawson MI Resnick (2002) ArticleTitleVasectomy and the risk of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis examining vasectomy status, age at vasectomy, and time since vasectomy Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis 5 193–203 Occurrence Handle10.1038/sj.pcan.4500586 Occurrence Handle12496981

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. E Giovannucci A Ascherio EB Rimm GA Colditz MJ Stampfer WC Willett (1993) ArticleTitleA prospective cohort study of vasectomy and prostate cancer in US men JAMA 269 873–877 Occurrence Handle10.1001/jama.269.7.873 Occurrence Handle8426446

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. N Lightfoot N Kreigr A Sass-Kortsak J Purdham G Buchan (2000) ArticleTitleProstate cancer risk. Medical history, sexual, and hormonal factors Ann Epidemiol 10 470 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1047-2797(00)00112-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. EA Platz BB Yeole E Cho DJ Jussawalla E Giovannucci A Ascherio (1997) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer: a case-control study in India Int J Epidemiol 26 933–938 Occurrence Handle10.1093/ije/26.5.933 Occurrence Handle9363512

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. K Zhu JL Stanford JR Daling et al. (1996) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer: a case-control study in a health maintenance organization Am J Epidemiol 144 717–712 Occurrence Handle8857819

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. JL Stanford KG Wicklund B McKnight JR Daling MK Brawer (1999) ArticleTitleVasectomy and risk of prostate cancer Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 8 881–886 Occurrence Handle10548316

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. S Sidney CP Quesenberry SuffixJr. MC Sadler HA Guess EG Lydick EV Cattolica (1991) ArticleTitleVasectomy and the risk of prostate cancer in a cohort of multiphasic health-checkup examinees: second report Cancer Causes Control 2 113–116 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00053130 Occurrence Handle1873435

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. B Cox MJ Sneyd C Paul B Delahunt DC Skegg (2002) ArticleTitleVasectomy and risk of prostate cancer JAMA 287 3110–3115 Occurrence Handle10.1001/jama.287.23.3110 Occurrence Handle12069674

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. G Block AM Hartman CM Dresser MD Carroll J Gannon L Gardner (1986) ArticleTitleA data-based approach to diet questionnaire design and testing Am J Epidemiol 124 453–469 Occurrence Handle3740045

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. National Institutes of Health (2000) SEER Summary Staging Manual. http://www.seer.cancer.gov/tools/ssm/.

  16. H Nienhuis M Goldacre V Seagroatt L Gill M Vessey (1992) ArticleTitleIncidence of disease after vasectomy: a record linkage retrospective cohort study BMJ 304 743–746 Occurrence Handle1571679

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. H Moller A Mellemgaard K Lindvig JH Olsen (1994) ArticleTitleObesity and cancer risk: a Danish record-linkage study Eur J Cancer 30A 344–350 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0959-8049(94)90254-2 Occurrence Handle8204357

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. JF Emard G Drouin JP Thouez P Ghadirian (2001) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer in Quebec, Canada Health Place 7 131–139 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S1353-8292(01)00005-3 Occurrence Handle11470226

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. L Rosenberg JR Palmer AG Zauber et al. (1994) ArticleTitleThe relation of vasectomy to the risk of cancer Am J Epidemiol 140 431–438 Occurrence Handle8067335

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. SM Lesko C Louik R Vezina L Rosenberg S Shapiro (1999) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer J Urol 161 1848–1852 Occurrence Handle10.1097/00005392-199906000-00034 Occurrence Handle10332451

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. EM John AS Whittemore AH Wu et al. (1995) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer: results from a multiethnic case-control study J Natl Cancer Inst 87 662–669 Occurrence Handle7538594

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. RB Hayes LM Pottern R Greenberg et al. (1993) ArticleTitleVasectomy and prostate cancer in US blacks and whites Am J Epidemiol 137 263–269 Occurrence Handle8452134

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. AW Hsing JK Reichardt FZ Stanczyk (2002) ArticleTitleHormones and prostate cancer: current perspectives and future directions Prostate 52 213–235 Occurrence Handle10.1002/pros.10108 Occurrence Handle12111697

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. LK Dennis DV Dawson (2002) ArticleTitleMeta-analysis of measures of sexual activity and prostate cancer Epidemiology 13 72–79 Occurrence Handle10.1097/00001648-200201000-00012 Occurrence Handle11805589

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Platz.

Additional information

Supported by National Cancer Institute Grant CA 08030, National Institute of Aging Grant AG18033, and Department of Defense Grant DAMD17-94-J-4265. Dr. Rohrmann is supported by the Fund for Research and Progress in Urology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Dr. Paltoo was supported by the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, Office of Preventive Oncology, Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, during the time she was working on this project. Dr. Comstock was partially supported by Research Career Award HL 21670 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. These data were supplied in part by the Maryland Cancer Registry, the Department of Mental Hygiene, Baltimore, Maryland. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations or conclusions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rohrmann, S., Paltoo, D.N., Platz, E.A. et al. Association of Vasectomy and Prostate Cancer Among Men in a Maryland Cohort. Cancer Causes Control 16, 1189–1194 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-005-0304-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-005-0304-8

Key words

Navigation