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More than a half of recent patients diagnosed with bladder cancer in the United States are attributed to smoking cigarettes, but many are not aware of this alarming fact. A new study shows that health officials play a very important role in raising awareness among people that one of the main factors that lead to bladder cancer is cigarette smoking.
For the new study researchers involved 790 people who have survived bladder cancer. The patients were diagnosed between 2006 and 2009 and 68% of these people had a history of cigarette smoking. 19% of the patients were active smokers at the time they were diagnosed.
Giving up smoking cigarettes after being diagnosed with cancer is crucial because it can help the patient live and battle cancer more efficiently. Also, quitting smoking can reduce the risk of developing other forms of cancer.
One of the researchers involved in the new study, Dr. Jeffrey Bassett said:
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“For people who are smoking at the time of a cancer diagnosis, the first step in wanting to quit is knowing that smoking caused the cancer and that continuing to smoke will result in additional harm.”
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Smoking is indeed the most important cause that leads to bladder cancer. The American Cancer Society said that people who smoke are at least three times more susceptible to developing bladder cancer than nonsmokers.
The same cancer study reveals that only about 25-35% of Americans are aware of the fact that tobacco smoking is linked to the development of bladder cancer. For those who ware active smokers, the figure is even low.
The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be approximately 74,680 new cases of bladder cancer, with 15,580 patients dying from the disease by the end of 2014. At the moment there are over 500,000 bladder cancer survivors in the US.
The new study also revealed that the urologists – doctors specialized in problems of the male reproductive organs and of the urinary tract – are the first source to inform the patients about bladder cancer. More than 82% of active cigarette smokers said that they found out about the disease from their urologist.
