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Infertility may be associated with testicular cancer
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Men in couples seeking treatment for infertility were found to be at an increased risk for developing testicular cancer, according to data from a U.S.-based cohort. This risk was greatest among men with male factor infertility.
Researchers analyzed data from 22,562 male partners of couples seeking fertility treatment between 1967 and 1998; 4,549 of these men had male factor infertility. The records of these men were then linked to data from the California Cancer Registry. Researchers compared the incidence of testicular cancer among this group with data from age-matched men from the SEER database.
Thirty-four cases of testicular germ cell cancer were diagnosed among the infertile cohort. Although men seeking infertility treatment had an increased risk of subsequently developing cancer (standardized incidence ratio=1.3; 95% CI, 0.9-1.9), those men with male factor infertility had a significantly increased risk for the disease (SIR=2.8; 95% CI, 1.5-4.8). A multivariable analysis found that these men were three times more likely to develop testicular cancer compared with men without male factor infertility (HR=2.8; 95% CI, 1.3-6.0).
“In interpreting these data, we considered the postulate that male factor infertility or its treatment could cause testicular cancer,” the researchers wrote. “However, this theory is highly improbable given that in many cases infertility treatment involves the use of assisted reproductive technologies rather than specific medical or surgical treatment of the male partner.”
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:351-356.