Vasectomy and the Incidence of Hospitalized Illness

Abstract
To determine the long-term effects of vasectomy on health the incidence of hospitalized illness was studied in 4.385 vasectomized and 13,155 age and race-matched nonvasectomized men. In none of the 16 disease groupings we examined was the incidence of hospitalized illness in the vasectomized men significantly different from that in the nonvasectomized men, considering men with all durations of vasectomy. Neither the incidence of acute myocardial infarction, other ischemic heart disease nor that of all atherosclerotic diseases considered as a group wsa significantly different between the vasectomized and nonvasectomized men, even in those whose duration of vasectomy was 10 yr or more. These data are reassuring, providing no evidence for an adverse health effect of vasectomy in men.