Young men who smoke pot on regular basis are twice as likely to develop the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, according to a study published in Monday’s online issue of the journal Cancer.

 

Previous studies have shown that environment or a man’s lifestyle is a risk factor for testicular cancer, but scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle are the first to look at the link between marijuana use and testicular cancer, said Stephen Schwartz, an epidemiologist and author on the study.

 

For the study, the researchers interviewed 370 men aged 18 to 44 with testicular cancer about their history of marijuana use. Then, they compared the findings to answers of nearly 1,000 randomly selected healthy control subjects.

 

After accounting for other factors leading to testicular cancer, such as smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and family history of the disease, regular use of marijuana was considered a significant risk factor for nonseminoma – a fast-growing testicular cancer that tends to strike between ages 20 and 35.

 

Men who smoked marijuana were 70 percent more likely to develop the disease while those who smoked it regularly or had smoked from an early age, had twice the risk compared to those who had never smoked it.

 

“What young men should know is first, we know very little about the long-term health consequences of marijuana smoking, especially heavy marijuana smoking, and second, our study provides some evidence that testicular cancer could be one adverse consequence,” Dr. Schwartz said.

 

Testicular cancer is normally curable when caught in its earliest stages, but some patients are not diagnosed until the disease is advanced. Regular testicular self-examinations can help identify growths early, when the chance for successful treatment of testicular cancer is highest.