A new study suggests that men under 25 with cancer are less likely to build a family. Yes, they rarely get married and have children compared to men without cancer.

UPI reported that young men who survived cancer are less likely to get married. Moreover, they have a low reproduction rate.

The researchers of the new study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, examined men born in Norway from 1965 to 1985. The team compared the reproduction rates of men diagnosed with cancer under 25 to those without cancer.

The scientists learned that male cancer survivors struggle to reproduce compared to men who are cancer-free. They are also less likely to seek out help with reproduction, Counsel&Health reported.

Per the reports, almost 80 percent of those diagnosed with cancer during childhood or adolescence survives.

"These finds are important for male cancer survivors, seeing as we can identify groups at risk of having reproduction problems," said lead author Maria Winther Gunnes, Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Bergen (UiB)

The team is hoping that this new knowledge will contribute to the improvement of the treatment for male cancer patients.

The study analyzed medical records and data of 626, 495 men. In the 20-year period, 2,687 men under 25 years old were diagnosed with cancer while 607,668 were declared as cancer-free. Of the survivors, less than fifty percent or 1,087 had children compared to 368,469 in the non-cancer group.

Among men with cancer, 30 percent were diagnosed before 14, 26 percent between ages 15 and 19, and 43 percent between ages 20 and 24. The most common forms of cancers diagnosed were testicular, central, nervous system, lymphoma and leukemia.

The researchers also learned that few of the survivors were born between 1965 and 1979. The majority of them benefits from the advances in cancer care after 1980. While cancer survivors are three times more likely to seek fertilization assistance, the researchers note that there is no increased risk of prenatal death or congenital defect.

The research team provides several measures to help male cancer survivors with reproduction. First, doctors can preserve their sperm before they start cancer treatments. Second, reproduction options like assisted fertilization should be provided to them. Third, they should be informed and enlightened that their cancer will not affect the health of their offsprings to encourage them to build a family.

"It is important to be able to assure young, male cancer survivors that their illness and treatment will not have a negative impact on their own children," Gunnes said.

The researchers stressed that it is important to enforce these measures because the rate of male cancer survivor is increasing over time.