Decline in circumcision rate could cost billions: study Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/decline-circumcision-rate-cost-billions-study-article-1.1141383#ixzz24Gc9yxge

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Jacques Amiel, center, holds newborn Benjamin Abecassis immediately following his Bris, a Jewish circumcision ceremony in San Francisco. The drop in rates from the 1970s and 1980s have cost the U.S. approximately $2.2 billion in additional healthcare costs.

Declining rates of circumcision among newborn boys in the U.S. could add up to billions of dollars in unnecessary medical costs for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, a new study warns.

Rates of male circumcision have been falling steadily in the U.S. over the past twenty years, in part because of reduced access to affordable health care, according to a study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The circumcision rate - which has dropped from 79 percent to 55 percent in the 1970s and 1980s - has already cost the nation an estimated $2 billion. That number could reach $4.4 billion if rates drop to the 10 percent circumcision level seen in Europe, the study found.

"Our economic evidence is backing up what our medical evidence has already shown to be perfectly clear," said researcher AaronTobian. "There are health benefits to infant male circumcision in guarding against illness and disease, and declining male circumcision rates come at a severe price, not just in human suffering, but in billions of health care dollars as well."

Medical experts believe that circumcision reduces the risk of urinary tract infections and STDs because it lessens the chance for bacteria or viruses to slip into the mucosal layers under the foreskin and thrive in the moist environment.

The study found that on average, each male circumcision not performed leads to $313 more in illness-related expense through a lifetime.

The decline in circumcisions on has been linked to shifting attitudes among parents as well as the loss of Medicaid coverage for such procedures in 18 states, the study found.

Some parents and health care experts have advocated an end to the practice, saying links to increased STD rates are unproven.

In San Francisco last year, anti-circumcision activists nearly got a measure criminalizing the practice on the November ballot.