Trends in tobacco smoking and bladder and lung-bronchial cancer rates among non-hispanic white Americans (2000-2016)

Cancer incidence may be linked to cumulative exposure to environmental factors, including diet, lifestyle behaviors, licit drug use (such as tobacco), and endogenous processes. Tobacco smoking (TS) is strongly associated with bladder cancer (BC) and lung-bronchial cancer (LBC). This study aimed to analyze TS, BC, and LBC rates; their correlation with sex and age; and the risk of subsequent primary cancers among BC and LBC patients in non-Hispanic white Americans (NHWAs) from 13 U.S. states.

The percentage of smokers in 13 U.S. states from 2000 to 2016 was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) database. LBC and BC cases in NHWAs from 2000 to 2016 were analyzed as single primary cancers or as the first of two or more neoplasms using the United States Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

The percentage of NHWA smokers decreased in all 13 U.S. states evaluated in this study from 2000 to 2016. Over 17 years, the incidence rates of BC were 36.37 and 11.66 cases per 100,000 among men and women, respectively, while those of LBC were 68.21 and 61.53 cases per 100,000, respectively. The highest incidence rates of BC and LBC occurred in individuals over 64 years of age: BC in New York (208.9 per 100,000 men) and Massachusetts (54.33 per 100,000 women), and LBC in Kentucky (503.1 per 100,000 men; 298.5 per 100,000 women). The incidence rates of BC and LBC were correlated in most states, especially in Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, and New York. Among the 657,117 patients with LBC, 4.3% had a second type of cancer, while among the 240,461 patients with BC, 14.3% had a second type.

Despite a significant decrease in the number of smokers in the United States between 2000 and 2016, the incidence of BC in men and LBC in women has not followed a similar decline. The odds ratio of a patient diagnosed with primary BC developing a second neoplasm is 3.3 times greater than that of a patient diagnosed with primary LBC.