The study showed that infertile men have an increased risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer, which is more likely to grow and spread quickly.The study's results suggest that because infertility may be an identifiable risk factor for prostate cancer, early screening may be warranted in infertile men.

Research focusing on the number of children a man has have pointed to male fertility's potential associated with risk for prostate cancer.

However, studies on the topic have generated conflicting results: some have found that men with children had a higher risk than childless men; some have found that men with fewer children had a higher risk than men with more children; still others failed to identify any association between the number of children fathered and a man's risk for prostate cancer.

However, men who were evaluated and found to be infertile were 2.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer than men who were evaluated but were found not to be infertile. The study has been published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.