Bladder cancer is the most frequent urinary tract cancer.
Risk Factors
- Age--most common in 50-70 year age range
- Gender--more frequent in men than women (2:1)
- Race--more frequent in whites than in blacks
- Smoking--high frequency in heavy smokers
- Location--the lateral walls of the bladder are more frequently involved
by tumor than is the trigone
- Occupation--rubber and leather industries, painter, chemical worker,
printer, metal worker, hairdresser, textile worker, machinist, truck driver
- Industrial aniline dyes, benzidine, 2-maphthylamine, 4-aminobiphenyl
(which presently has no commercial use in the United States, although it
was formerly used as a rubber antioxidant, a dye intermediate, a research
chemical, and in the detection of sulfates)
- Chronic bladder infections with schistosoma hematobium
- Pelvic irradiation
- Prior chemotherapy with cytoxan
Studies (1980) showed that people who use artificial sweeteners do not appear
to have a higher incidence of bladder cancer than non-users.
The period of time from exposure to development of cancer can be as long
as 6-20 years.
