Sexual Intercourse

[ieshepherd@yahoo.co.uk]

Does sexual intercourse have any effects on:

a) PSA measurements?
b) Prostate cancer progression?
c) Prostate enlargement?

[Ali Rooke]

Hi,

Thank you for posting this question. There are lots of things that can affect your PSA level – not just a
prostate problem. You may be told to avoid any sexual activity that leads to ejaculation in the 48 hours before a PSA test, as this could cause a temporary rise in your PSA level. If you are gay, bisexual or a man who has sex with men, being the receptive partner during anal sex might raise your PSA level for a while. Having your prostate stimulated during sex might also raise your PSA level. It might be worth avoiding this for a week before a PSA test. Prostate Cancer UK's booklet on understanding the PSA test may be useful to read: http://prostatecanceruk.org/media/41628 ... a-test.pdf

There is no clinical evidence to suggest that sexual activity of any format and ejaculation after a diagnosis of prostate cancer will cause the cancer to progress. A recent article within The Daily Telegraph reported that "Sleeping with more than 20 women protects men against prostate cancer, academics find,". The study in question included more than 1,500 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and a matched group of men without prostate cancer from the general population. Researchers then interviewed the men about their sexual activity. The study concluded that having more than 20 female partners over a man’s lifetime was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer, while having several male partners seemed to increase the risk.

However, studies like this one cannot prove that having several female partners reduces the risk of prostate cancer, or that having more male partners increases risk. If having multiple female partners reduced prostate cancer risk, it would be expected that the more partners you had, the lower your risk would be. However, this study did not find such a relationship between the number of female partners and associated risk. The protective effect was only seen in men in the upper category of having 21 or more female partners, and strangely, no other category.
The findings do not give a clear or coherent picture, and there may be many other factors influencing the relationship.

There is no evidence to suggest that sexual intercourse will have an affect on the size of the prostate gland. If you are concerned about an enlarged prostate gland you may find the following information useful to read: http://prostatecanceruk.org/media/41599 ... ooklet.pdf

Regards,
Ali.

[ieshepherd@yahoo.co.uk]

Many thanks for a comprehensive and informative reply. Very helpful.

[Dr Jon Rees]

And, allegedly....

some research suggesting regular ejaculation decreases the risk of a condition called prostatitis - so much that one London Urologist is regularly quoted as saying you need to ejaculate 21 times a month to avoid prostatitis..... good luck with that.