Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have confirmed that men who have undergone vasectomy are no more likely to develop atherosclerosis or cardiovascular disease than are men who have not had this surgery. Their study involved 3957 white men 45 to 64 years of age who were free of coronary heart disease when examined between 1987 and 1989. About 20 per cent of the men (1050) had undergone a vasectomy at an average age of 37 years. The men were followed for a nine-year period during which time 518 cases of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke or coronary heart disease) were diagnosed. The researchers found no evidence that men who had undergone vasectomy had a greater risk of cardiovascular disease than did men who had not. This held true even in cases where the vasectomy had been performed 20 years earlier. The researchers also found no evidence of a greater incidence of inflammation, blood coagulation problems, peripheral arterial disease, i.e. intermittent claudication, or atherosclerosis or hardened arteries among men who had had a vasectomy.
Coady, Sean A., et al. Vasectomy, inflammation, atherosclerosis and long-term follow-up for cardiovascular diseases: no associations in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Journal of Urology, Vol. 167, January 2002, pp. 204-07