Bladder cancer (BC) is a significant health problem, and understanding the risk factors for this disease could improve prevention and early detection.
To provide a systematic review and summary of novel developments in epidemiology and risk factors for BC.
A systematic review of original articles was performed by two pairs of reviewers (M.G.C., I.J., F.E., and K.P.) using PubMed/Medline in December 2017, updated in April 2018. To address our primary objective of reporting contemporary studies, we restricted our search to include studies from the last 5yr. We subdivided our review according to specific risk factors (PICO [Population Intervention Comparator Outcome]).
Our search found 2191 articles, of which 279 full-text manuscripts were included. We separated our manuscripts by the specific risk factor they addressed (PICO). According to GLOBOCAN estimates, there were 430000 new BC cases and 165000 deaths worldwide in 2012. Tobacco smoking and occupational exposure to carcinogens remain the factors with the highest attributable risk. The literature was limited by heterogeneity of data.
Evidence is emerging regarding gene-environment interactions, particularly for tobacco and occupational exposures. In some populations, incidence rates are declining, which may reflect a decrease in smoking. Standardisation of reporting may help improve epidemiologic evaluation of risk.
Bladder cancer is common worldwide, and the main risk factors are tobacco smoking and exposure to certain chemicals in the working and general environments. There is ongoing research to identify and reduce risk factors, as well as to understand the impact of genetics on bladder cancer risk.
European urology. 2018 Sep 26 [Epub ahead of print]
Marcus George Kwesi Cumberbatch, Ibrahim Jubber, Peter C Black, Francesco Esperto, Jonine D Figueroa, Ashish M Kamat, Lambertus Kiemeney, Yair Lotan, Karl Pang, Debra T Silverman, Ariana Znaor, James W F Catto
Academic Urology Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Electronic address: ., Academic Urology Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK., Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada., Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, CRUK Edinburgh Centre, University of Edinburgh, UK., Department of Urology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA., Department for Health Evidence, Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc), The Netherlands; Department of Urology, Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc), The Netherlands., Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA., Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA., Cancer Surveillance Section, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.