Top MEDICAL Reasons to Have Children

A short while ago, I posted a humorous hub about the Top 20 Reasons to Have Children, but being a Physician Assistant student, I knew that there was more to this conversation than just a funny Top 20 list.

Did you know that there are a host of medical benefits to be gained from having children?

Studies have shown that having children may be associated with:

1. Decreased risk of ovarian cancer.
2. Decreased risk of breast cancer.
3. Less aggressive forms of breast cancer.
4. Decreased risk of lung cancer with increasing number of children
5. Decreased risk of endometrial cancer.
6. Better prognosis in endometrial cancer patients.
7. Better prognosis in uterine sarcoma patients.
8. Decreased risk of certain types of stomach cancer after menopause.
9. Decreased risk of pancreatic cancer.
10. Decreased risk of liver cancer.
11. Decreased risk of colon cancer.
12. Decreased risk of rectal cancer.
13. Decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
14. Decreased risk of suicide.

And if you breastfeed those children, there are even more benefits - for you and for your kids!
So there you have it, 14 Medical reasons to have children.

Check out the Top MEDICAL Reasons NOT to Have Children to see the other side of the story.

1. Prognostic impact of parity in 493 uterine sarcoma patients. Albrektsen G - Int J Gynecol Cancer - 01-AUG-2009; 19(6): 1062-7.
2. Effects of reproductive factors on risk of breast cancer: a literature review. - Parsa P - Asian Pac J Cancer Prev - 01-OCT-2009; 10(4): 545-50 (MEDLINE® is the source for the citation and abstract of this record )
3. Parity and age at first childbirth in relation to the risk of different breast cancer subgroups. - Butt S - Int J Cancer - 15-OCT-2009; 125(8): 1926-34
4. Association between parity and risk of suicide among parous women. Canadian Medical Association Journal - Volume 182, Issue 6 (April 2010)
5. Parity and risk of stomach cancer by sub-site: a national Swedish study. - Bahmanyar S - Br J Cancer - 8-APR-2008; 98(7): 1295-300
6. Parity and risk of lung cancer in women. - Paulus JK - Am J Epidemiol - 1-MAR-2010; 171(5): 557-63
7. Parity, age at first birth, and risk of death from pancreatic cancer: evidence from a cohort in Taiwan. - Chang CC - Pancreas - 01-JUL-2010; 39(5): 567-71
8. Parity, age at first birth, and risk of death from liver cancer: Evidence from a cohort in Taiwan. - Wu CH - J Gastroenterol Hepatol - 01-FEB-2011; 26(2): 334-9
9. The relationship between gravidity and parity and colorectal cancer risk. - Wernli KJ - J Womens Health (Larchmt) - 01-JUL-2009; 18(7): 995-1001
10. Does pregnancy provide vaccine-like protection against rheumatoid arthritis? - Guthrie KA - Arthritis Rheum - 01-JUL-2010; 62(7): 1842-8