Smoking and diabetes link seen postmenopausal women.

2002 DEC 19 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Findings in a study published in the December 1, 2002 issue of Cancer indicate that cigarette smoking is a significant risk factor in urinary bladder cancer in postmenopausal women, a group that has until now received little attention in the study of bladder cancer.

Current smokers were at greatest risk for bladder cancer, but importantly, their risk decreased as the time since quitting increased. Other factors identified in postmenopausal women as potentially contributing to bladder cancer risk included diabetes and lifestyle. Unmarried women and women who engaged in no physical activity were at increased risk for bladder cancer.

Each year, 55,000 people in the United States, mostly men, are diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer. Known general risk factors include male gender, older age, smoking history, bladder infections, and exposure to aromatic amines, such as those found in cigarettes. Other possible factors include alcohol and caffeine consumption, drugs with phenacetin, and exposure to ionizing radiation, such as x-rays. Whereas many studies have investigated the risk factors for bladder cancer, few have included women, and fewer still have included a significant number of women.

Therefore, risk factors for bladder cancer specifically in women have been studied little and are rarely recognized. The authors of this study investigated potential factors, such as cigarette smoking, for bladder cancer in older, postmenopausal women.

Using data from the Iowa Women's Health Study, Tripathi et al. conducted a prospective study of 37,459 women with valid Iowa driver's licenses between the ages of 55 and 69, who completed baseline questionnaires in 1986, and were followed for 13 years for the incidence of bladder cancer. Baseline data included demography, past medical and cancer history, past and current smoking and alcohol consumption, physical activity, marital status, and waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index (BMI). Follow-up questionnaires were sent in 1987, 1989, 1992 and 1997, and new cases of bladder cancer were cross-matched with data from the State Health Registry of Iowa. Between 1986 and 1998, 112 women were identified with bladder cancer.

Smoking was identified as the most significant risk factor for bladder ...