Male Cancer Survivors Less Likely To Have Kids

New findings published in the British Journal of Cancer show that male cancer survivors are less likely to reproduce when compared to counterparts.

The study, which was based on almost 3,000 men under the age of 25 in Norway over a 20-year period, showed that these cancer survivors were less likely to get married than men without cancer and less likely to have children.

"It is important to be able to assure young, male cancer survivors that their illness and treatment will not have a negative impact on their own children," said study author Maria Gunnes, a doctoral candidate at the University of Bergen, in a news release.

The findings showed that less than half of the cancer survivors had children--compared to close to 400,000 of the original 600,000 who were cancer free and born between 1965 and 1985, based on data collected from national birth and health registries.

Of the cancer diagnoses, 30 percent were before age 14, 26 percent were between ages 15 and 19, and 43 percent were in young adulthood between ages 20 and 24 and the most common forms of cancer diagnosed were testicular, central nervous system, lymphoma, and leukemia.

The findings are important for cancer survivors who may seek reproduction assistance, as these men were about three times more likely to opt for fertilization assistance. However, researchers did not find an increased chance of prenatal death or congenital defect.

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