Bladder Cancer Prognosis
Lifestyle factors and bladder cancer prognosis Nonsmokers have been shown to have a better prognosis than smokers for cancers at several body sites. In the case of bladder cancer, however, two previous studies have suggested that cigarette smoking has little effect on survival time, despite the fact that it is a well-established risk factor for this disease. Researchers at Nagoya University School of Medicine in Japan conducted a follow-up study of bladder cancer patients to examine the significance of lifestyle factors in the prognosis of the disease.
The patients (203 men and 55 women) had participated in a case-control study between 1976 and 1978, during which they were interviewed about demographic data and smoking and drinking habits, including consumption of various non-alcoholic beverages and use of artificial sweeteners. Using follow-up information obtained from the tumor registry of the Nagoya Bladder Cancer Research Group, the researchers found that among male patients, higher educational attainment, being married, a history of drinking alcohol, and a history of consuming green tea were all significantly linked with longer survival time. Smoking habit, use of artificial sweeteners, and consumption of black tea and coffee showed no effect. In multivariate analysis in male patients, the only lifestyle factor significantly associated with prognosis was drinking of alcoholic beverages. The adjusted hazard ratio for ever-use of alcohol was 0.46 (95% confidence interval 0.26-0.79).
These findings indicate that alcohol consumption is associated with better survival in male bladder cancer patients. As in previous studies, cigarette smoking was not a significant determinant of prognosis.
Kenji Wakai, Yoshiyuki Ohno, Kohju Obata, and Kunio Aoki, Prognostic Significance of Selected Lifestyle Factors in Urinary Bladder Cancer, Japanese J Cancer Research 84(12):1223-1229 (Dec 1993) [Correspondence: Kenji Wakai, Department of Preventive Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, Japan]
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