Medicine

Circumcision and Risk of Cancer

A man who is circumcised appears to have less risk for contracting penile human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, which may lead to a reduced risk of cervical cancer for his female partner.

HPV can cause genital warts in men and women, and has been linked to cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus and penis, according to the study, which is published in the April 11th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

To investigate whether male circumcision might cut the risk of HPV in both men and women, Dr. Xavier Castellsague of the Hospitalet de Llobregat in Barcelona, Spain, and an international team of researchers evaluated the prevalence of HPV infection in more than 1,900 couples living in five different countries.

Penile HPV was detected in 166 (20%) of the 847 uncircumcised men and in 16 (6%) of the 292 circumcised men, the authors report. In addition, the authors report that monogamous women whose male partners had six or more sexual partners and were circumcised had a 58% reduction in their risk for cervical cancer.