How common is bladder cancer?

Bladder cancer is a common cancer with approximately 10,000 cases diagnosed in the UK every year (1).

More men than women are diagnosed with bladder cancer, while the majority of bladder cancer patients are over the age of 65 years at diagnosis (2). However, more men than women survive bladder cancer proportionally (2).

Risk factors for developing bladder cancer include:

  • Smoking - chemicals in cigarette smoke increase the risk of developing bladder cancer. Research has shown that around half of all bladder cancer diagnoses in men and a third in women are the result of smoking (3)
  • People of white European ethnic origin are more susceptible to bladder cancer than people of African or Asian origin (3)
  • Industrial chemicals can increase the likelihood of your developing bladder cancer. If you have worked in the rubber, leather making or security printing industries you may be more at risk (3)
  • If you have a history of chronic bladder infections, you may be more at risk of developing bladder cancer (3)
  • A disease called schistosomiasis (Bilharzia), which is caused by a parasite, can increase the risk of squamous cell bladder cancer. Bilharzia is common in certain African and Asian countries (4)

Infolinks

References:

  1. Cancer Research UK | UK Bladder Cancer Statistics | Accessed Sep 2009 | Last updated May 2009
  2. Datta, Neville, Datta & Earle | Gender disparities in bladder cancer survival: an assessment of socio-demographic factors | Fifth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research (Nov 2006) | Behavioral and Social Science: Health Disparities
  3. American Cancer Society | What Are the Risk Factors for Bladder Cancer? | Accessed Sep 2009 | Last update May 2009
  4. Mostafa, Sheweita & O'Connor | Relationship between Schistosomiasis and Bladder Cancer | Clinical Microbiology Review (Jan 1999); 12 (1): pp 97-111

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