This site is intended for healthcare professionals

account_circleSign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Epidemiology

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Urothelial cancer:

  • is uncommon before 50 years of age
  • is most frequent in incidence at 65 years of age
  • is more common in males by a factor of 3:1(1)
  • bladder cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the UK. It is 3-4 times more common in men than in women. In the UK in 2011, it was the fourth most common cancer in men fand the thirteenth most common in women (2)
    • 10,399 people diagnosed with bladder cancer and 5081 deaths from bladder cancer in 2011
    • majority of cases occur in people aged over 60
    • main risk factor for bladder cancer is increasing age, but smoking and exposure to some industrial chemicals also increase risk
  • 95% affect the bladder; 5% affect the upper tracts
  • in 90% of cases, presentation is with macroscopic haematuria (1)
  • 5-10% of patients present with microscopic haematuria
  • is four times as common as renal adenocarcinoma
  • has a 20 times more common incidence in paraplegics
  • is common in industrialised countries
  • is uncommon in the developing world except in bilharzial areas

Note that both microscopic and macroscopic haematuria, when caused by a urothelial cancer are intermittent. Therefore repeat urine testing can be negative for haematuria in the presence of a tumour (1).

Reference:

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page