Epidemiology and Sociocultural Differences for Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Bladder cancer (BCa) is the second most common genitourinary cancer in men and the most common in women. Every year, worldwide, more than 400, 000 patients receive a BCa diagnosis and 145, 000 succumb to it. The epidemiology is influenced by several factors such as age, gender, race, geography, sociocultural status, and exposure to risk factors. Women have a lower risk of developing BCa compared to their male counterpart but present with more aggressive features and suffer from worse outcomes. Black patients seem to have a higher risk of advanced disease and worse survival. BCa is typically a disease of the elderly with a higher preponderance in developed countries. However, the change in the geography of smoking from developed to developing countries together with the improvement of life expectancy will lead to an increase in the incidence in these regions. Moreover, in Western countries, mainly due population aging, BCa will become even more frequent, resulting in an even bigger public health challenge. Indeed, BCa is the most cost-intensive cancer per person mainly because of the excessive costs related to the high recurrence rate and ongoing invasive monitoring required in the surveillance of non-muscle invasive BCa (NMIBC) patients. The new revolution in awareness and innovation in BCa will certainly change this disease in the near future.