Vasectomy and prostate cancer in Quebec, Canada

The present investigation measured the association between vasectomy and pr ostate cancer (PC) in the male population of Quebec. Canada. The Quebec Hea lth Insurance Board and the Quebec Cancer Registry were our principal sourc es of information. Lung cancer cases and the male population of Quebec serv ed as controls for comparative purposes. Within a retrospective design. our preliminary results indicate an association between vasectomy and PC. Amon g the 1925-39 birth cohort of individuals diagnosed with PC in 1990-93, the global odds ratio was 2.6 (95% CI = 1.7-4.3) while it was compared with lu ng cancer as the control group. This risk increased with the length of time between vasectomy and the diagnosis of cancer. An historical design indica ted strong cohesion of the results. Besides, the risk does not vary when we control For the place of residence of the individuals. Vasectomy seems to increase the risk of PC at least 10 years after the operation, but we canno t exclude the impact of a possible detection bias among vasectomized indivi duals. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.