INFERTILE MEN have a much higher risk than normal of developing an aggressive form of prostate cancer, according to medical researchers.
Men unable to father children are 2.6 times as likely to suffer from high-grade prostate cancer, which is more dangerous because it grows and spreads quickly. Research published in the journal Cancermade the link between the two conditions after studying 22,562 men who were assessed for infertility in California between 1967 and 1998.
“The results of the current study provide novel evidence of a potential link between male factor infertility and aggressive prostate cancer risk,” said a team led by Dr Thomas Walsh, of the University of Washington in Seattle. It may be useful to screen infertile men for prostate cancer to identify and treat those with the riskier form of the disease, the authors suggest. – (Guardian service)