Vasectomy and Coronary Disease in Men less than 50 Years Old: Absence of Association

Abstract

Because recent experiments in primates suggest a relationship between vasectomy, and the development and promotion of atherosclerosis a case control study was performed to explore this possibility in humans. The prevalence of prior vasectomy was determined in 55 men less than 50 years old with onset of documented coronary disease and in a matched control group of close relatives (45 brothers and 10 first cousins) free of coronary disease. The prevalence was the same in each group, 25.5 per cent (14 of 55), and there was no significant difference between study groups in the mean interval since vasectomy. Thus, within the limitations of this study no association of coronary disease with prior vasectomy was found. Further work is needed to evaluate whether the animal findings pertain to humans.

Does vasectomy have long‐term effects on somatic and psychological health status?

“…In the second cohort study, comparing 1764 vasectomized men to three comparison control groups, the same authors could find no evidence of an increased risk of cardiovascular illness associated with having undergone a vasectomy. In a similar case-controlled study carried out in 1980 in San Francisco (though this concentrated on only 55 men aged less than 50 with a coronary history compared to 55 controls) Wallace et al (1981) also found an identical proportion of vasectomies in each group.…”

Vasectomy and vasectomy reversal

“…This effect was attributed to immune-complex deposition damaging the vascular endothelium. The prevalence of prior vasectomy was the same in 55 men aged less than 50 with onset of coronary heart disease, and in a matched control group of close relatives [28]. In humans, however, no excess of autoimmune, cardiovascular, or endocrine disease was found in a study of 1760 vasectomized men, followed up for a total of 4500 man-years [27].…”