Prudes, Rejoice! A Study Links Number of Prior Sexual Partners to Cancer

The BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health article has us all rapidly tallying, but is it hot or not?

This week — the sexual history takes on new importance with a study in BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health that suggests that the number of prior sexual partners you have is associated with your risk of cancer.

Full disclosure — I’m not a great sexual history taker. I basically ask if my patient is sexually active or not, and then I ask with men, women, or both. And then I’m done. As a nephrologist, I spend more time probing about how many prior NSAIDs they have taken than how many prior partners they’ve had.

But according to the BMJ study, number of prior partners may be a new risk factor of note. Well at least if the answer you get is “more than 10”.

While you’re all busy tallying, let’s dig into the study.

This is an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging or “ELSA” study, and I just can’t let it go.

Sorry.