Patient awareness of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer

Data on general population's and bladder cancer patients' perception of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer are limited. To determine urological patients' awareness of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer.

This prospective observational study included 202 consecutive urological inpatients, using a structured questionnaire. We evaluated urological patients' awareness of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer and other smoking-related pathologies. Smoker-bladder cancer patients were asked whether they believed that smoking was related to their present bladder problem, whether their treating urologist had ever advised them on the same, and whether they intended to quit.

Only 118 of 202 patients (58.4%) stated that they were aware of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer, as apposed to 94.6% for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 91.6% for heart and vascular problems, and 92.1%, for lung cancer. Perception was unrelated to age, gender, smoking habits, or history of heart or chronic lung disease. Of current smokers/TCC patients, 56.4% believed that smoking is related to their problem and 61.5% intended to quit. The majority (84.6%) had been already warned by their attending physicians.

Urological patients' awareness of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer is lower than that for other smoking-related entities. The role of the urologist should not be restricted only to diagnosis and treatment, but should also include counseling patients on the need for radical changes of their life style.