(Risk of testicular cancer in subfertile men: case control study)

The incidence of testicular cancer has increased in the past 50 years and there is some evidence to suggest that sperm quality has reduced in the same period, leading to an increase in male subfertility. In this week's BMJ, Henrik M�ller and Niels Skakkeb�k from the Danish National Research Foundation report that men with low relative fertility have double the risk of testicular cancer than men with normal fertility.

The authors suggest that the most plausible explanation for the association between subfertility and testicular cancer, is the existence of causal factors that are common in both conditions and they speculate that these factors may take effect at an embryonic stage.

Contact:

Dr Henrik M�ller, Head, Centre for Research in Health and Social Statistics, Danish National Research Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark [email protected]