Men having sex with men at far greater risk for cancer, STDs, infections: Systematic review
As the homosexual movement makes gains in public opinion and politics, the dissenting voice of science continues to unearth health problem after health problem associated with gay sexual behavior.
A systematic review of PubMed articles dealing with homosexual activity (MSM) and cancer rates found that rates for various cancers skyrocketed for men engaging in homosexual activity.
The study, titled “Cancer and men who have sex with men: a systematic review,” was published in The Lancet last December.
Researchers examined 47 reports that merited inclusion in their study of sexual orientation and cancer rates. They found that the majority of the reports agree that MSM is a significant risk factor for cancer.
Researchers found that a dozen of the 47 studies focused on the risk factors for anal cancer, including HPV infection in the anal canal. The studies indicated that “not being exclusively heterosexual significantly increased the risk of anal cancer.”
One report found that “anal HPV infection and abnormal anal cytology were highest in boys with a homosexual or bisexual orientation.”
A French report of HIV-clinic outpatients found that “MSM had a greater prevalence of HPV infection than did heterosexual men who injected drugs” (85 percent vs 46 percent), that MSM were found to be “infected with several types of HPV [more often] than were heterosexual men who injected drugs” (61 percent vs 26 percent), and that “more MSM had cytologic abnormalities than did men who injected drugs” (72 percent vs 36 percent).
A Brazilian study found that “MSM with HIV were significantly more likely to have anal squamous intraepithelial lesions” than were heterosexual men with HIV and men and women without HIV who did not have “receptive anal intercourse.”
According to the researchers, the results of the Brazilian study “suggest that both HIV infection and receptive anal intercourse are significant correlates of anal squamous intraepithelial lesions.”
Researchers found that nine of the 47 studies showed that when compared to other groups, MSM have “disproportionally higher” Human herpes virus type 8 (HHV-8) infection rates. According to the researchers, HHV-8 has been shown to predispose people to the systemic disease/tumor Kaposi’s sarcoma.
Evidence examined by the researches showed that while hepatitis B virus (HBV), which can result in liver cancer, declined by 67 percent overall between 1990 and 2002, the “proportion of MSM with HBV increased from 7 percent to 18 percent in the same period.”
One report examined by the researches found a link between lung disease and homosexual orientation.
Of 75,164 college students aged 18–24 years who reported having a heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual, or unsure sexual orientation, the likelihood of gay or lesbian college students having had “acute respiratory illness” was “significantly greater” than for heterosexual college students (OR 1·38). Bisexuals were “more likely” to have had sinus infection (OR 1·15); asthma (OR 1·37); and bronchitis (OR 1·19) than were heterosexuals.
Researches looked at two reports that examined survival rates of people with AIDS. The “odds of mortality were significantly higher for homosexual men than for heterosexual men, heterosexual women, or men who injected drugs.”
With MSM experiencing increased rates of disease and mortality, researches were hard pressed to find anything positive in the data, but they did.
Two reports showed that doctors were “more likely to discuss anal health with MSM with HIV than with heterosexual men and women with HIV, and MSM had more colorectal cancer screening.”
The researchers called this an “advantage for MSM.”
From the evidence that they examined, the researches concluded that “sexual orientation is still largely overlooked in the context of cancer” and called for more research that would “examine the effects of sexual orientation on cancer, from prevention to survivorship
