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Circumcision is safe for baby boys but can be risky in older children, new research has revealed.
U.S. researchers say 0.4 per cent of boys experience complications after circumcision if it is carried out during the first year of life.
In contrast, the risk is 20 times higher in boys who have the procedure between the ages of one and nine.
Circumcision is safe in baby boys but the risks increase 20-fold for older children (file picture)
Researchers at the University of Washington, in Seattle, studied data from U.S. insurance claims for babies younger than one year old, children between ages one and nine and children who were 10 years old or older when they were circumcised.
Their findings did not include children who underwent ritual circumcisions in a non-medical setting.
Overall, the researchers had data on more than 1.4 million circumcised males. The vast majority were newborns.
Dr Charbel El Bcheraoui, the study's lead author, said: ‘[The risk is] low overall, but it increases with age at circumcision.’
The researchers found that about 0.4 per cent of boys experienced circumcision complications when the procedure was performed within the first year of life.
The risk increased about 20-fold among boys between one year and nine years of age.
Just 0.4 per cent of boys suffer complications after circumcision if the procedure is carried out before they turn one
It was 10-fold higher among males 10 years old and older, compared with infants.
‘What we assume is it's probably because between one and 10 years of age is the age when caring after procedure is the most complicated,’ Dr Bcheraoui told Reuters Health.
Circumcision is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.
The wider U.S. population adopted the practice due to potential health benefits, such as reducing the risk of urinary tract infections in infants and cutting the risk of sexually transmitted disease later in life.
But the practice has been the focus of heated debate, including efforts to ban it in San Francisco and Germany.
The American Academy of Pediatrics updated its recommendations in 2012 to say the benefits of male circumcision justify families having access to the procedure if they choose.
According to the JAMA Pediatrics study, about 0.5 per cent of the procedures ended with some type of adverse event regardless of age, but the rates for specific complications varied.
Damage to the urethra occurred in about 0.8 per million circumcisions. Leaving behind too much foreskin occurred in about 702 per million circumcisions.
The researchers note that some complications might not have been picked up because they were reviewing claims data on problems that typically occurred within the first month following the circumcisions.
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