Does vasectomy predispose to osteoporosis?
Objective:
To investigate whether vasectomy, which causes immunological and histological changes to the testes and changes to the hypothalamo-pituitary axis, could influence bone mineral density (BMD) and predispose to osteoporosis.
Patients And Methods:
From patients referred to the Bone Densitometry Clinic, the BMD of L1-L4 and of the hip was analysed in 25 vasectomized men and compared with that in age-matched controls, ensuring that both groups had no secondary causes which might predispose to osteoporosis.
Results:
In the spine, the mean (standard deviation) BMD was 1.00 (0.19) g/cm2 for the vasectomized men and 0.96 (0.14) g/cm2 for the controls. In the hip (femoral neck and total, respectively) the means were 0.79 g/cm2 and 0.90 g/cm2 for the vasectomized men and 0.72 g/cm2 and 0.96 g/cm2 for the controls. None of the differences were statistically significant.
Conclusion:
This study does not support the hypothesis that vasectomy may be a risk factor for osteoporosis.
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