A new study from Canada indicates that being circumcised may offer men a degree of protection from developing prostate cancer later in life. According to Urologist Des Moines Dr. Fawad Zafar, researchers suspect the connection may be the lower rate among circumcised men of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), which increases prostate cancer risk, but more study is needed to confirm that theory.
Based on interviews with more than 3,000 men, researchers found that those circumcised as infants were almost 15 percent less likely than uncircumcised males to develop prostate cancer. And the men who were circumcised as adults were 45 percent less likely to develop the cancer than uncircumcised men.
The participants were all between 40 and 75 years old when they were recruited and almost 1,600 of them had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The other men did not have prostate cancer but were similar in health and age.
For the entire group, researchers found an 11 percent lower risk of having prostate cancer among circumcised men, but noted that it was not statistically important, indicating that it could have been due to chance.
Your urologist Des Moines reports that the National Cancer Institute estimates that almost three million men are living with prostate cancer in the United States, making it the second leading cause of cancer deaths among men.
About 80 percent of U.S. men born in the 1970s and 1980s were circumcised as babies, but the circumcision rate has been declining. Among males born in the U.S. in 1999, just over 62 percent were circumcised, and by 2010, the rate among newborns dropped below 55 percent.
Even though the study was small, researchers saw only a slightly reduced risk later in life among men who were circumcised as babies, but your urologist Des Moines feels that the data is one more thing to consider when studying prostate cancer.
It’s too early in the game to make it a public recommendation, but in the future it could be confirmed that it’s a good thing and may have an added protection from other diseases.
If you have any questions regarding prostate cancer and its causes and treatments, call the office of Urologist Des Moines Dr. Fawad Zafar today to schedule an appointment.