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