Infertile men are at particular risk of aggressive prostate cancer, reports Cancer.
Previous studies on the relationship between male fertility and prostate cancer have produced completely divergent results. Some showed an increased risk of cancer in men having many children, some showed a reduced risk, and some found no relationship.
Since not every fertile male fathers many children, Dr. Thomas Walsh’s team at the University of Washington in Seattle set out to look for a more reliable indicator.
The study included a group of 22 men treated for infertility in the years 562-1967 in 1998 California centers. The cancer incidence among them was compared with that in the general population, among men of similar age and living in similar places.
It turned out that sterile men did not develop prostate cancer more often than the rest of the population, but if they did, the cancer was 2,6 times more likely to be severe.
According to the authors of the study, infertility should be an indication for screening for prostate cancer in men.
For now, however, further research is needed on more men – perhaps they will allow us to find some genetic or environmental determinants common to infertility and prostate cancer (PAP).