The Mayo Clinic’s large-scale study answers it once and for all…

Most men are nervous enough about getting a vasectomy. And for three decades, conflicting studies haven’t made them feel any better.

Some researchers warned that the birth control procedure increases chances of prostate cancer¹.

Scientists at the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, recently set out to settle the controversy. They recently completed a large review of the past 30 years of vasectomy studies to determine if cancer fears are justified.

The researchers analyzed 53 studies with a combined 15 million men who had a vasectomy and were then followed for up to 24 years.

The verdict?

Recently published in the scientific journal JAMA Internal Medicine, their work found a 0.6% absolute increase in lifetime risk. This is a miniscule increase that the researchers say is “clinically insignificant.”

The study also found “no association between vasectomy and risk of high-grade, advanced, or fatal prostate cancer.”

Dr. Bimal Bhindi is an urologist at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study. He said prostate cancer should not be a factor when a man decides whether to a get a vasectomy².

“Although patients should be appropriately counseled, concerns about the risk of prostate cancer should not preclude clinicians from offering vasectomy to couples seeking long-term contraception,” the study concluded.

The results confirm those from an American Cancer Society study last year. It found no correlation between vasectomy and prostate cancer³.