Anuska Sen, Team BioXone
“Have you ever heard about bladder cancer?” That’s the question this year’s theme of World Bladder Cancer Awareness Month asks us. It is believed that this one question if asked to people can make many of us “Bladder Cancer Aware”. The World Bladder Cancer Awareness Month is celebrated in May each year to promote awareness about the disease, its causes, detection, cure and to encourage investment into more of quality research in this field. The day is also dedicated to the innumerous patients who are fighting with the disease daily and also to those brave ones who could not win the fight. Bladder cancer is globally represented using a blue, yellow and purple colored ribbon for its recognition.
What is Bladder Cancer?
Bladder cancer (also known as Urinary bladder cancer) refers to the cancer of the urinary bladder. The urinary bladder is a muscular organ in the lower abdominal region of the body, whose function is to store urine. The disease usually occurs when cells in the inner lining of the bladder develop certain harmful mutations in their DNA. The different types of bladder cancer are: Urothelial carcinoma (most common type), Squamous cell carcinoma and Adenocarcinoma (rare type).
Who can get affected by the disease?
Anyone (any age, any sex) can get affected with bladder cancer. However, it can be said that the risk of the disease increases with age as present data suggests that most of the cases of bladder cancer have been detected in people above the age of 50. Again, incidence of bladder cancer is more common in males and it represents ~75% of the total number of bladder cancer cases. As mentioned by the American Bladder Cancer Society, a male has a 1 in 26 and a woman a 1 in 88 chance of getting diagnosed with bladder cancer in his/her lifetime.
Major symptoms and risk factors related to Bladder cancer
The main symptoms associated with bladder cancer are:
- Hematuria (occurrence of blood in the urine)
- Need to urinate frequently.
- Occurrence of pain while urinating (sometimes).
- Pain in the abdomen, lower back and pelvic regions.
- Repeated cases of UTI (urinary tract infections).
- Urinary incontinence (involuntary urination, meaning the person urinates even when he does not want to, the control over urination is lost)
- Tiredness
- Loss of weight.
The key factors that might pose a risk to develop bladder cancer are:
- Smoking of cigarettes and other usage/consumption of tobacco.
- Frequent or long-term exposure to radiation in the past.
- Chronic bladder inflammation (cystitis) caused by UTIs or other causes.
- Exposure to harmful chemicals (may or not be carcinogenic) in the workplace for long intervals of time.
- Parasitic infections such as schistosomiasis.
- Family history of cancer.
Prevalence of bladder cancer globally
The statistics by World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition reports that bladder cancer is the 10th most common type of cancer globally and stands out to be one of the most significant factors of great number of cancer-related cause of deaths yearly. As reported by the American Bladder Cancer Society, bladder cancer accounts for approximately 5% of the total number of cancer cases in the world. All over the world, 573,278 new cases of bladder cancer have been reported in the year 2020 alone and 199,922 deaths were reported in the year 2018. Data collected about the prevalence of bladder cancer from all over the world signify that approximately 60% of the total number of cases and 50% of the total deaths due to bladder cancer occur in the developing countries.
Precautions
Although bladder cancer cannot be prevented in reality, yet there are certain measures that can be adopted to reduce the risk factors for the occurrence of the disease. Firstly, smoking should be reduced or completely avoided. Secondly, those who are professionally involved in working with hazardous chemicals in the laboratory or get long-term exposure to radiations, should follow all safety instructions to minimize direct exposure as much as possible. Thirdly, a proper balanced diet filled with anti-oxidants (fruits and vegetables) might help in reducing the risk of cancer.
Thus, in conclusion it can be said that let us all take a vow this World Bladder Cancer Awareness Month to spread awareness about the disease and help people in whatever little way we can to overcome this deadly disease.
Also read:Chronoculture: Plant-based biological clock
Sources:
- World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition – https://worldbladdercancer.org/
- World Bladder Cancer Awareness Month 2021 – https://worldbladdercancer.org/awareness-month/
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