Men, Fatherhood and Prostate Cancer Risk
Fatherhood has always been a controversial factor in relation to prostate cancer and its risks.
A recently study of Danish researchers revealed, rather interesting findings on this issue:
- childless men have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer than fathers
- BUT, the more children a father has, the lower the risk of the disease
A paradox indeed, suggesting that men, in order to have lower risk of developing prostate cancer, should either remain childless or have as many children as possible.
Researchers led by Kristian Jørgensen of the Statens Serum Institut, in Copenhagen, Denmark, used a national population-based register to analyze data from all men born in Denmark between 1935 and 1988, among which 3,400 developed prostate cancer.
They found men without children were 16 percent less likely than those with children to be diagnosed with prostate cancer during up to 35-years of follow up.
The analysis also revealed that among fathers, there was a gradually reduced prostate cancer risk with increasing number of children.
The authors suggest that, theoretically, this might reflect a “healthy father” phenomenon, in which men who retain fertility are less likely to develop a malignancy. The study found no association between prostate risk and child gender.
The analysis did not reveal what factors associated with childlessness might be responsible for the risk reduction.
Caught your attention right? If same is true in a larger population ( in americans or in other countries as well) is yet to be seen.
Such were the findings reported in an article that will appear in the February 15, 2008 issue of the journal CANCER.
Find more details from EurekAlert.
Tags: fatherhood, prostate-cancer, prostate-cancer-riskRelated Stories
POSTED IN: on prostate cancer
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