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Public release date: 20 April 2010
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Prostate cancer may cause infertility in youngs
A research team from the University of Washington and other research centres in the US carried out a research
targeting young infertile men. The study investigated whether there is a relationship between male infertility
and the risk of prostate cancer.
Their report is based on a study using the medical records of over 22,000 men in California who had been assessed
for infertility. Some previous studies have suggested that men without children are at greater risk of prostate
cancer than men with children, while other studies have not found such a link. In the current study the researchers
wanted to look directly at infertility as a risk factor, as opposed to whether or not a man had children, which
could be a matter of choice or other factors such as their partner's fertility.
Investigated data showed a higher prostate cancer rate in infertile men (1.2%) than in men found not to be infertile
(0.4%). Infertile men were about 1.8 times more likely to develop prostate cancer than men who were found not to be
infertile after taking into account age, duration of infertility treatment, and where they were treated. The risk
was particularly increased for higher-grade cancers, where men with infertility were at 2.6 times the risk of men
without infertility
Research found that men who were infertile were more likely to go on to develop prostate cancer, particularly more
advanced prostate cancer, than men who were not infertile.
In particular, the authors suggest that men with infertility may be more likely to undergo screening for prostate cancer
as part of their medical assessments than men without infertility, and this would increase the chances of any
prostate cancers being found in the infertile group. However, the fact that the risk of low-grade cancers was not
significantly increased in infertile men suggests that this may not be the case.
This research does have some limitations, including its reliance on medical records and the fact that not many of
the men developed the more aggressive type of prostate cancer, which weakens the reliability of the results.
This study is not able to tell us whether different types of male infertility are associated with greater or lower
risk of prostate cancer, or whether it is the condition, the treatment, or some other related factor that is
associated with the increase in risk. The authors suggest that it seems unlikely that treatments are to blame,
as in most cases men will not receive treatment for their infertility. Instead, they and their partner will receive
assisted reproduction techniques such as IVF.
Of course, these results will need to be confirmed in larger studies, preferably prospective cohort studies. It is
also important to bear in mind that the risk of developing prostate cancer, even among men who were infertile, was
relatively low.
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