Male sexual behavior as risk factor in cervical cancer

Risk factors of male sexual behavior for squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix were studied in Thai women at Chulalongkorn Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, using an unmatched case-control design. A total of 93 case husbands and 169 control husbands were recruited in the study. Case husbands are prone to have more sexual partners than the control and have an age of first sexual intercourse earlier than the controls. More husbands of cases than of controls had history of prostitute visits in their life with the odds ratio of 9.42. Prostitute visit is a main risk factor, irrespective of whether the husband had a history of sexually transmitted diseases or not. Condom use in sexual intercourse with prostitutes seemed to have a protective effect for their wives in decreasing risk of cervical cancer. This study supports the infectious and venerally transmitted character of cervical cancer and indicates that the other measure of preventing and controlling cervical cancer in women is to educate and prevent men from having high risk sexual behavior.