Risk prediction of bladder cancer among person with diabetes: A derivation and validation study

This study aimed to devise and validate a clinical scoring system for risk prediction of bladder cancer to guide urgent cystoscopy evaluation among people with diabetes.

People with diabetes who received cystoscopy from a large database in the Chinese population (2009-2018). We recruited a derivation cohort based on random sampling from 70% of all individuals. We used the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for independent risk factors to devise a risk score, ranging from 0 to 5: 0-2 'average risk' (AR) and 3-5 'high risk' (HR).

A total of 5905 people with diabetes, among whom 123 people with BCa were included. The prevalence rate in the derivation (n  = 4174) and validation cohorts (n  = 1731) was 2.2% and 1.8% respectively. Using the scoring system constructed, 79.6% and 20.4% in the derivation cohort were classified as AR and HR respectively. The prevalence rate in the AR and HR groups was 1.57% and 4.58% respectively. The risk score consisted of age (18-70: 0; >70: 2), male sex (1), ever/ex-smoker (1) and duration of diabetes (≥10 years: 1). Individuals in the HR group had 3.26-fold (95% CI = 1.65-6.44, p  = 0.025) increased prevalence of bladder than the AR group. The concordance (c-) statistics was 0.72, implying a good discriminatory capability of the risk score to stratify high-risk individuals who should consider earlier cystoscopy.

The risk prediction algorithm may inform urgency of cystoscopy appointments, thus allowing a more efficient use of resources and contributing to early detection of BCa among people planned to be referred.