Connection between cannabis use and testicular cancer

Long term cannabis usage increases the risk of getting an extraordinary aggressive type of testicular cancer. This the conclusion of an American research.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Center for Cancer Research in Seattle compared the marijuana use of about 370 men that suffered from testicular cancer and of about 980 men that did not have this type of cancer.

The analysis of the data showed that the marijuana smokers have a 70 percent higher chance of developing a so called nonseminoma than non marijuana users.

With long term users the risk even doubles. The aggressive nonseminoma is responsible for about 40 percent of all cases of testicular cancer and is mostly found in patients between the ages of 20 and 35. The more common seminoma is often found in men in the age of 30 and 50 years old.

In Europa and North America the number of testicular cancer cases have risen by about 3 to 6 percent per year since the fifties of the last century. The usage of cannabis has also increased since the fifties, so this was the reason for the researchers to go looking for a connection.

The researchers do not know yet what the exact cause is of the connection that has been found between smoking cannabis and testicular cancer. Cannabis possibly influences the hormone production according to Janet Darling who worked on the research.

That could explain why young men who already smoked marijuana before the age of 18 are especially running a risk. It is still unclear why cannabis use has a connection with only one specific type of testicular cancer, but young men should be very much aware that we don’t know much yet about the long term effects of using marijuana.

Previous research already showed that cannabis usage reduced sperm quality and testosterone production.

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