Circumcision could help protect men from prostate cancer.
Researchers believe the correlation could be linked to the fact that circumcised men have a lower STD rate, Reuters reported.
"It's still premature to say go ahead with circumcision to prevent prostate cancer," lead author Marie-Elise Parent. "But, we think it could be helpful."
The team interviewed over 3,000 men and found that those who were circumcised were 14 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than the circumcised participants; Men who had been circumcised in adulthood were 45 percent less likely to get cancer.
Muslim and Jewish men tend to have lower rates of prostate cancer have relatively low rates of prostate cancer, suggesting circumcision could be related to the cancer.
The participants in the study were all between the ages of 40 and 75; 1,590 of them had already been diagnosed with prostate cancer at the start of the study. About 40 percent of the white men and 30 percent of the black men were circumcised.
"Black men have the highest rate (of prostate cancer) on the planet and we don't know why," Parent told Reuters. "It's really puzzling trying to figure out why this cancer is so common in men that live in industrialized countries, when we understand so little about what's going on with it and have no way of preventing it."
Rates of circumcision have been declining over the years. In 1999 the rate was 62.4 percent in the U.S., by 2010 that number had dropped to 55 percent.
Medicaid does not cover the procedure, which could lead to a link between socioeconomic status and the rate of STDs.
The researchers noted that the study was small and more research would be needed in order to encourage men to get circumcised with the intention of preventing prostate cancer.
"We are too early in the game to make it a public recommendation. It could be that in the future it will be confirmed that it's a good thing and may have an added protection from other diseases," Parent said.
