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The objective of this review was to assess the trend in the US male circumcision rate and the impact that the affirmative 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement might have on neonatal circumcision practice. We searched PubMed for the term circumcision to retrieve relevant articles. This review was prompted by a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found a slight increase, from 79% to 81%, in the prevalence of circumcision in males aged 14 to 59 years during the past decade. There were racial and ethnic disparities, with prevalence rising to 91% in white, 76% in black, and 44% in Hispanic males. Because data on neonatal circumcision are equivocal, we undertook a critical analysis of hospital discharge data. After correction for underreporting, we found that the percentage had declined from 83% in the 1960s to 77% by 2010. A risk-benefit analysis of conditions that neonatal circumcision protects against revealed that benefits exceed risks by at least 100 to 1 and that over their lifetime, half of uncircumcised males will require treatment for a medical condition associated with retention of the foreskin. Other analyses show that neonatal male circumcision is cost-effective for disease prevention. The benefits of circumcision begin in the neonatal period by protection against infections that can damage the pediatric kidney. Given the substantial risk of adverse conditions and disease, some argue that failure to circumcise a baby boy may be unethical because it diminishes his right to good health. There is no long-term adverse effect of neonatal circumcision on sexual function or pleasure. The affirmative 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics policy supports parental education about, access to, and insurance and Medicaid coverage for elective infant circumcision. As with vaccination, circumcision of newborn boys should be part of public health policies. Campaigns should prioritize population subgroups with lower circumcision prevalence and a higher burden of diseases that can be ameliorated by circumcision., (Copyright © 2014 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Studies undertaken in England and Scotland have identified a decrease in the number of circumcision operations being performed during childhood. The aims of this study were two-fold. Firstly, to determine the trend in circumcision operations performed in boys in Northern Ireland over a ten year period. Secondly, to compare the number of operations performed by paediatric surgeons with the number performed by general surgeons over the same period., Method: Data were collected from the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety. A retrospective analysis was conducted of the number of circumcisions performed in boys aged between 0 and 13 years for the year beginning 1(st) September 1991 to the 1(st) of September 1992 and for the year beginning 1(st) September 2001 until the 1(st) of September 2002., Results: 769 circumcisions were performed in the year 1991 to 1992 compared with 264 in the year 2001 to 2002, representing a 66% decrease. In the ten year study period, the number of circumcisions performed by general surgeons fell by 71% whilst specialist paediatric surgeons performed 56% less., Conclusions: The decrease in rates of circumcision in boys aged 0 to 13 years in Northern Ireland is consistent with trends in the remainder of the United Kingdom. The results also suggest a greater decrease in the proportion of circumcisions being performed by general surgeons in district general hospitals compared to those performed by paediatric surgeons.