Male adolescents and young adults with cancer face a slightly increased risk of having children born preterm or with low birth weight, but no heightened risk of birth defects, according to research conducted by UTHealth Houston. This study was recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The research highlights that the likelihood of live births varies depending on the type of cancer. Fathers with thyroid cancer had the highest probability at 27.6%, while those with gastrointestinal cancer had the lowest at 9.6%, ten years post-diagnosis.
“There has been very little research on childbirth and perinatal research for adolescent and young adult men with cancer,” said Caitlin Murphy, PhD, MPH, associate professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She emphasized the importance of providing data-driven answers to questions about fertility from young men facing a cancer diagnosis.
The study analyzed data from 42,896 adolescent and young men aged 15-39 diagnosed with cancer between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 2015. They were compared with their peers without cancer using records from the Texas Cancer Registry, live birth certificates, and the Texas Birth Defects Registry.
Findings revealed that preterm births occurred in 8.9% of cases among men with cancer compared to 8% among those without. Similarly, low birth weight was recorded in 6% of cases involving men with cancer versus 5.3% in those without any such history. The prevalence of birth defects showed no significant difference between both groups.
These results underscore the need for reproductive counseling for adolescents and young adult men diagnosed with cancer. “There is a big push to offer counseling at the time of diagnosis related to fertility preservation,” Murphy noted. She pointed out that this can be overwhelming for patients who are just beginning treatment.
Contributors to this study included Jennifer S. Wang, MPH; Andrea C. Betts, PhD, MPH; L. Aubree Shay, PhD, MSSW; Marlyn A. Allicock, PhD, MPH; and Caroline L. Kirk, MPH, MHA from UTHealth Houston's School of Public Health. Funding support came from both the U.S. Department of Defense and the Cancer Control Research Training Program backed by the National Cancer Institute (T32CA057712).
Murphy has previously explored outcomes for children born to women who had cancer as adolescents or young adults and has received a $1.5 million grant to investigate pregnancy complications over three decades in a diverse population group.
