Vasectomy may not be all it's cut out to be
DOES'vasectomy lead to
prostate cancer in the
long run? Conflicting
findings of studies abroad
led the Indian Council
of Medical Research to
initiate in August 1994 a
comprehensive hospital
based study.
Due for completion in 2 years, the
study is part of a World Health
Organization multicountry evaluation
which aims at establishing a link, if any,
between vasectornised men and prostate
cancer, and cardiovascular and urinary
diseases.
"It will cover vasectomised and nonvasectomised married men in the age group of 50-plus," said C R Ramachandran, senior deputy direcTr general
of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, who is conducting
the evaluation. A majority of the
13 million men vasectornised in
India are over 50. "While vasectomy
formed 74 per cent of -all sterilisations
in 1970," he says, "it fell to a low of
4.2 per cent in 1991-92. The reasons haven't been documented. Documented benefits of vasectomy could
assist in the national family welfare
programme."
"The findings of these studies conducted abroad cannot be applied to the
Indian context as the incidence of cardiovascular diseases and prostate cancer
vary the world over. Also, these studies
indicate that lifestyles could also be a
factor, 11 adds Ramachandran.
But India is lucky. While 91.2 per
100,000 men have prostate cancer in the
us, India has 1.9 to 7.1 per 100,000 men.
But cardiovascular diseases are rampant
here, with 22.5 million suffering from
hypertension and 12 million from
ischaernic heart disease.
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