Bladder cancer trends and mortality in the brazilian public health system

Considering the lack of data on BC trends in Brazilian population, mainly as a result of the difficulty on gathering data, the present manuscript provides an overview of bladder cancer incidence, hospitalization, mortality patterns and trends using the Brazilian Data Center for The Public Health System (DATASUS).

All hospital admissions associated with BC diagnosis (ICD-10 C67) between 2008 and 2017 were analyzed. Distributions according to year, gender, age group, ethnicity, death, length of hospital stay, and costs were evaluated. Demographic data was obtained from the last Brazilian national census.

From 2008 to 2017 there were 119,058 public hospital admissions related to BC. Patients were mostly white males aged 60 to 79 years-old. Mortality rates for patients who have undergone surgery was 6.75% on average, being 7.38% for women and 6.49% for men. Mortality rates were higher when open surgeries were performed compared to endoscopic procedures (4.98% vs 1.18%). Considering only endoscopic procedures, mortality rates were three times higher after urgent surgeries compared to elective ones (2.6% vs 0.6%). Over the years the cystectomy/transurethral bladder resection (C/T) ratio significantly decreased in all Brazilian Regions. In 2008, the C/T ratio was 0.19, while in 2017 it reduced to 0.08.

Despite BC relatively low incidence, it still represents a significant social economic burden in Brazil, as it presents with recurrent episodes that might require multiple hospitalizations and surgical treatment. The set of data collected might suggest that population access to health care has improved between 2008-2017.