A question about Cancer.

[Massdow]

I have a (weird) question, and I hope someone can answer this.

Is Prostate or any other form of cancer more common among the Gay community?

Does someone know what might cause this, assuming someone is strictly gay (and not bi)?

Lastly, is the incidence of cancer less among those who are Straight or Bi?

Thanks in advance for your answers!

[Tall_Allen]

I don't know what the incidence is among gay vs straight men, but I would hypothesize the following:

• Gay men may be more attuned to urological changes, so the detection rate may be higher

• Gay men may have higher testosterone levels or supplement testosterone, which may be protective against PCa

Those two factors work in opposite directions in determining PCa incidence. I don't know where it nets out.

I have seen data that men with HIV have lower risk of a PCa diagnosis, in spite of seeing doctors more often (perhaps because they are more likely to supplement testosterone to prevent wasting):

academic.oup.com/jnci/artic...

[Massdow in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you so much!

[Philip_Craig in reply to Tall_Allen]

Allen, Where does the article address your second bullet point (Gay men may have higher testosterone levels or supplement testosterone, which may be protective against PCa). I thought the opposite. I was taking supplemental testosterone for 9 years and have always felt that is what triggered my PC.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Philip_Craig]

The article is about HIV and PC.

Many people share your misunderstanding because taking away all testosterone is used to treat PC. But the opposite is not true- adding testosterone does not trigger PC. Morgentaler has championed "saturation theory" which is widely accepted by most researchers. He found that low T levels (of about 150 ng/dl) completely saturate all androgen receptors. Any T added above that cannot further activate androgen receptors - a sopping wet sponge cannot get any wetter:

acsjournals.onlinelibrary.w...

Men who have chronic low levels of testosterone (hypogonadal) have higher incidence of PC:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/214...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/106...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

(and dozens more)

[Philip_Craig in reply to Tall_Allen]

I have been off T for over 3 years and was just tested and came back at 445. I always felt better at 650, but 445 is close enough and not clinically low I suppose. You are always a wealth of information and I appreciate you. Best regards

[misterbarkley in reply to Tall_Allen]

Is there any evidence that anal intercourse can lead to prostate cancer especially if the recipient has an enlarged prostate?

[Tall_Allen in reply to misterbarkley]

I can promise you it won't. Prostate cancer cannot be caused by prodding or massaging the prostate.

[Vitruviusman]

no I do not think that prostate cancer is higher in the gay community per say. I do know that African American men seem to have a higher incidence of prostate cancer than other ethnic groups.

[Massdow in reply to Vitruviusman]

I am sorry if I gave the impression that Gay people have a higher incidence of prostate cancer. I was just trying to see if there was a link between people being gay and getting prostate cancer.

[Vitruviusman in reply to Massdow]

No.