Vasectomy and Nonfatal Myocardial Infarction: Continued Observation Indicates No Elevation of Risk

Abstract

The incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction among 4,733 vasectomized men followed for 33,969 man-years was 1.3 cases per 1,000 man-years. This incidence was nearly identical in a 5-fold larger series of comparable nonvasectomized men. These data represent a substantially increased long-term followup over that reported previously for these groups and provide continued assurance of the lack of an association between vasectomy and myocardial infarction, particularly 10 or more years after vasectomy.

Vasectomy and vasectomy reversal

“…Petitti et al [30] compared 4385 vasectomized men and 13 155 non-vasectomized men matched for age and race and found no significant differences in blood pressure, blood count, serum urea and electrolytes, or liver function tests. Walker et al [31] found a significant increase in hospitalization rates only with genitourinary disease, chiefly in the first years after vasectomy, but otherwise there was no difference in new hospitalization rates amongst 6092 vasectomized men compared to controls; in a subsequent study, no increase in non-fatal myocardial infarction was demonstrated [32].…”

Vasectomy: common medicolegal pitfalls

“…Interest in this topic was stimulated by animal experiments showing accelerated atherosclerosis in vasectomized monkeys fed a high‐cholesterol diet [13]. This study [9], along with others of similar design, failed to show any association between myocardial ischaemic events and vasectomy. There was no discernible trend in subgroups of more advanced age or at greater intervals from vasectomy.…”

“…Careful critical appraisal of the methodology giving rise to an association and consideration of the biological plausibility of the association should be considered before drawing any conclusions. Walker et al [9] studied the association between vasectomy and nonfatal myocardial infarction. This study is one of several that have followed a cohort of vasectomized men and compared cardiac ischaemic events to those in an age-matched control group [10±12].…”

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

“…(ii) Large-scale epidemiological surveys. Walker et al ( , 1983, using medical data from the Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (COHC) in Seattle, compared a group of 4733 vasectomized men to five control cohorts. At a mean of 10 years after the vasectomy the frequency of (non-lethal) myocardial infarction was identical between the groups.…”