Sexual activity and prostate cancer risk in men diagnosed at a younger age

✍ Scribed by Polyxeni Dimitropoulou; Artitaya Lophatananon; Douglas Easton; Richard Pocock; David P. Dearnaley; Michelle Guy; Steven Edwards; Lynne O’Brien; Amanda Hall; Rosemary Wilkinson; The UK Genetic Prostate Cancer Study Collaborators; British Association of Urological Surgeons Section of Oncology; Rosalind Eeles; Kenneth R. Muir

• Book ID: 109054363
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 182 KB
• Volume: 103
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1464-4096
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1464-410x.2008.08030.x

✦ Synopsis

OBJECTIVE

To examine, in a case‐control study, the association between the frequency of sexual activity (intercourse, masturbation, overall) and prostate cancer risk in younger men diagnosed at ≤60 years old.

PATIENTS, SUBJECTS AND METHODS

In all, 431 prostate cancer cases and 409 controls participated and provided information on their sexual activity. In particular, the frequencies of intercourse and masturbation during the participants’ different age decades (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s) were collected.

RESULTS

Whereas frequent overall sexual activity in younger life (20s) increased the disease risk, it appeared to be protective against the disease when older (50s). Alone, frequent masturbation activity was a marker for increased risk in the 20s and 30s but appeared to be associated with a decreased risk in the 50s, while intercourse activity alone was not associated with the disease.

CONCLUSION

These findings could imply different mechanisms by which sexual activity is involved in the aetiology of prostate cancer at different ages. Alternatively, there is a possibility of reverse causation in explaining part of the protective effect seen for men in their 50s.