Bladder cancer and smoking with special reference to education

Abstract

I read with interest the article entitled ‘Low awareness of risk factors among bladder cancer survivors: New evidence and a literature overview’ by Westhoff et al. [ [1] Westhoff E. Maria de Oliveira-Neumayer J. Aben K.K. Vrieling A. Kiemeney L.A. Low awareness of risk factors among bladder cancer survivors: new evidence and a literature overview. Eur J Cancer. 2016; 60: 136-145 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar ] published in this journal. The authors evaluated self-awareness of the risk factors for bladder cancer in 1793 survivors of bladder cancer. Among all subjects, only 366 (20%) were aware that smoking (10%), occupational exposure (5%) and heredity (2%) were possible risk factors for bladder cancer. The authors recommended effective education for bladder cancer prevention. I was very impressed by the contents of the paper, especially the data summarised in Appendix I from the Nijmegen Bladder Cancer Study, which include self-reported causes of bladder cancer by Dutch survivors [ [1] Westhoff E. Maria de Oliveira-Neumayer J. Aben K.K. Vrieling A. Kiemeney L.A. Low awareness of risk factors among bladder cancer survivors: new evidence and a literature overview. Eur J Cancer. 2016; 60: 136-145 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (24) Google Scholar ]. Among the risk factors, I have two comments on smoking. Low awareness of risk factors among bladder cancer survivors: New evidence and a literature overviewEuropean Journal of CancerVol. 60PreviewData on urinary bladder cancer (UBC) patients' perceptions about causes of bladder cancer is limited, while this may be important knowledge for health prevention and education. We evaluated self-reported perceptions and beliefs about the causes of bladder cancer among UBC survivors in the Netherlands. Full-Text PDF Open Access