Urinary Tract Infection Not A Reason To Circumcise

Posting Date: 04/10/2000

Once more, you?re going to be hearing about a study that raises the old specter about how circumcision can reduce the rate of urinary tract infections (UTI) in baby boys.

You know where I stand on this. Why put baby boys through the trauma of circumcision when 98 percent don?t get UTIs? Also, UTI is a fairly common ailment in all newborns, male and female.

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This study was done by a pro-circumcision doctor, Edgar Schoen, M.D., who looked at the medical records of 14,893 male infants, 9,668 of whom were circumcised, after being born at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California.

The study found that out of 154 male infants diagnosed with UTIs, 86 percent were in uncircumcised boys, according to a report in Pediatrics.

However, what is buried in the study is that the odds ratio of getting UTI in the first year of life was one in 47 among uncircumcised males, the same ratio as in females. Yet, it?s the boys that everyone is getting freaked out about.

If intact male boys have the same UTI rate as girls, what?s the big deal? Why put boys through this horrible procedure just to save the health care system a few extra dollars in caring for the small percentage that develop the ailment?

Source: Pediatrics, April 4, 2000