More and more men are having vasectomies in France, according to a new survey.
- Vasectomy is a definitive method of male contraception consisting of the sectioning and occlusion of the vas deferens, which prevents sperm from reaching the urethra and, therefore, being ejaculated.
- The number of vasectomies has increased significantly since 2010 in France, with an annual rate multiplied by 15 in 12 years (from 1,940 in 2010 to 30,288 vasectomies in 2022).
- At the same time, the number of female sterilizations was halved between 2013 and 2022 (from 45,138 sterilizations in 2013 to 20,325 in 2022) after an initial increase between 2010 and 2013.
The number of vasectomies has increased 15-fold in 12 years in France, according to a new investigation led by EPI-PHARE.
“As part of its work program dedicated to the sexual health of the French and their contraception, EPI-PHARE (scientific interest group in epidemiology of health products ANSM-Cnam) carried out a study to establish an inventory of the use of vasectomy in France between 2010 and 2022”we can read in a press release.
Today in France, the only male contraceptive methods reimbursed by Health Insurance are condoms (for those under 26) and vasectomy, authorized since 2001 in our country.
Vasectomy is a definitive method of contraception consisting of the sectioning and occlusion of the vas deferens, which prevents sperm from reaching the urethra and, therefore, from being ejaculated. Most often carried out under local anesthesia, vasectomy is a short, effective surgical procedure with no absolute contraindication.
Vasectomy in France: an annual rate multiplied by 15 in 12 years
Thanks to data from the National Health Data System (SNDS), the study carried out by EPI-PHARE shows that the number of vasectomies has increased significantly since 2010 in France, with an annual rate multiplied by 15 in 12 years (from 1,940 in 2010 to 30,288 vasectomies in 2022).
At the same time, the number of female sterilizations was halved between 2013 and 2022 (from 45,138 sterilizations in 2013 to 20,325 in 2022) after an initial increase between 2010 and 2013.
“For the first time in France, in 2021 and 2022, there were more male sterilizations than female sterilizations. In 2022, three male sterilizations were carried out for every two female sterilizations”underline the authors of the survey. “Men having vasectomies were on average increasingly younger between 2010 and 2022 (from 44 to 41 years old on average) and seemed to correspond to profiles of the most advantaged socio-economic levels. they add.
Relative to the population of men aged 20 to 70, Pays de la Loire and Brittany are the regions where the rates of vasectomy practice were the highest over the 13 years studied. Conversely, the rates were significantly lower in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Hauts-de-France, Corsica and Île-de-France.
Vasectomy in France: “d“reassuring results regarding the safety of the procedures”
“The results also seem reassuring regarding the safety of vasectomy procedures, with in particular a moderate use of painkillers by men in the post-operative year (study period 2010-2021)” analyzes the scientific interest group. “Local complications detectable in SNDS affected one man in a hundred in the year post-vasectomy, and surgical revisions were almost exceptional,” he wrote in his report.
Finally, the rate of use of vasovasostomy appears to be particularly low at the end of this survey.
“France seems to be gradually closing the gap, although the number of procedures still remains lower than those of the leading countries in terms of definitive male contraception,” ends EPI-PHARE. “Monitoring the rate of vasectomy procedures at the national level must therefore be continued in order to confirm or not the recent appropriation by French men of this definitive contraception. concludes the institution.
