For 24 years (1986-2010), Harvard researchers tracked the health of 49, 405 U.S. men between the ages of 40 and 75. One in four men in the study reported having a vasectomy. More than 6,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, with 811 fatal cases, during the study.
Black Men & Prostate Cancer
Black men are two times more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men and 2.5 times more likely than them to die from the disease.
“African-American men, in particular, display increased risk of suffering and death from prostate cancer, compared to men of other ancestral backgrounds. Black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, are diagnosed at a younger age, display larger tumors, and are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer that has spread throughout the body than white males ,” says Isla Garraway, MD, PhD, a prostate cancer researcher at UCLA.
Vasectomy 101
Besides condoms, having a vasectomy is the only other form of male birth control to prevent pregnancy. An estimated one million men undergo vasectomies each year in the U.S. However, according to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Black and Latino men receive the fewest vasectomies.
Considered a safe operation, a vasectomy is typically a short procedure (under two hours) done right in the doctor’s office or as an outpatient surgery under local anesthesia.
Like any other surgery, having a vasectomy does come with associated risks including infections, blood clots, long-term testicular pain and painful lumps in the scrotum (hematomas). The new findings on prostate cancer bring to light another potential risk to consider.
So, Does Getting A Vasectomy Cause Prostate Cancer?
Another two large, well-designed Harvard studies were published in 1993 in the Journal of the American Medical Association which suggest that
