Bladder Cancer Risk Factors

Cyclophosphamide and arsenic drugs that are used to treat cancer and other conditions raise the risk of bladder cancer.

 

Caucasians develop bladder cancer twice as often as African Americans and Hispanics, and the lowest rates of bladder cancer are among Asians.

 

Men are two to three times more likely than women to get bladder cancer.

 

People with family members who have bladder cancer are more likely to develop the disease, and researchers are studying changes in certain genes that may increase the risk of bladder cancer.

 

People who have had bladder cancer have an increased chance of getting the disease again.

 

Chlorine and saccharin may eventually be added to the list of risk factors for bladder cancer. Chlorine is added to water to make it safe to drink by killing deadly bacteria. However, chlorine by-products can form in chlorinated water.

 

Researchers have been studying these by-products for more than 25 years, and although there is no proof that chlorinated water causes bladder cancer, researchers are continuing to study this. Some studies have found that saccharin, an artificial sweetener, causes bladder cancer in animals. However, research does not show that saccharin causes cancer in people.