A range of research in laboratory animals associates alterations to the reproductive system with alterations in longevity. Nematode worms live longer if you remove their germ cells, for example. Transplanting younger ovaries into older mice extends life as well. There is some thought that these varied approaches work through common longevity mechanisms such as insulin-like signaling pathways, but that's by no means certain.

Here is another set of data to add to the existing research on this topic:

Reproduction is a risky affair; a lifespan cost of maintaining reproductive capability, and of reproduction itself, has been demonstrated in a wide range of animal species. However, little is understood about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Most cost-of-reproduction studies simply ask how reproduction influences age at death, but are blind to the subjects' actual causes of death. Lifespan is a composite variable of myriad causes of death and it has not been clear whether the consequences of reproduction or of reproductive capability influence all causes of death equally.

To address this gap in understanding, we compared causes of death among over 40,000 sterilized and reproductively intact domestic dogs, Canis lupus familiaris. We found that sterilization was strongly associated with an increase in lifespan, and while it decreased risk of death from some causes, such as infectious disease, it actually increased risk of death from others, such as cancer.

Although a retrospective, epidemiological study such as this cannot prove causality, our results suggest that close scrutiny of specific causes of death, rather than lifespan alone, will greatly improve our understanding of the cumulative impact of reproductive capability on mortality. Our results strongly demonstrate the need to determine the physiologic consequences of sterilization that influence causes of death and lifespan. Shifting the focus from when death occurs to why death occurs could also help to explain contradictory findings from human studies.

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061082

Source:
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2013/04/sterilized-dogs-live-longer.php