An increased risk of cancer has been linked to having men with infertility in the family

People who had infertile men in their family were more likely to have several types of cancer. This was found out by researchers from the USA.

The risk of developing cancer depends on various factors. It can be influenced by dietary habits, lifestyle, diseases suffered, heredity. According to a new study, there is a possible link between the risk of cancer in a person and the presence of male relatives who have been found to have reduced fertility (subfertility).

Scientists from the American University of Utah studied information about residents of this state, which they obtained from the relevant database. According to the researchers, this is one of the world's largest sources of genetic information and information on the state of public health. The material for scientific work became the data not only men who were diagnosed with one of the types of subfertility, but also their relatives: parents, brothers and sisters, children, aunts, uncles, as well as cousins.

There were 786 men in the group of men with subfertility and 5674 men in the control group of men without problems with the reproductive system. The total number of relatives (families of representatives of both groups were studied) amounted to 337,754 people. The results of the study were published in the journal Human Reproduction.

The authors of the study developed an algorithm that allowed to identify the risk of cancer not one, but several organs. It turned out that it varies both according to the type of subfertility and within the same type. Families with azoospermia (lack of sperm in the semen) had a more marked risk of five types of cancer: bone and joint cancer, soft tissue cancer, uterine cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and thyroid cancer. Families with men with severe oligozoospermia were more likely to have colon cancer, bone and joint cancer and testicular cancer, while the risk of esophageal cancer was markedly reduced.

Researchers also determined that some families had an increased risk of developing at least two types of cancer. Among families with azoospermia, they identified 12 groups that had the highest incidence of two to seven types of cancer. Families with severe oligozoospermia did not have more than three high-risk cancer types.

Describing families with similar cancer risk patterns opens up new possibilities that will allow for more accurate diagnosis and prevention of disease, the researchers said. The link between reduced fertility and cancer, identified in the work, has not yet quite clear nature: whether families with such men have some genetic problems that can cause both an increase in cancer risk and azoospermia, or whether they are affected by some environmental factors that lead to both sperm problems and cancer. The scientists plan to study this question in more detail in future papers. In any case, the authors of the article believe that the findings should be brought to the attention of men with the corresponding diagnosis and medical professionals.