Quitting cigarettes may cut bladder cancer risk in women: Study

Quitting cigarette smoking may significantly reduce the risk of bladder cancer in postmenopausal women, a study has found.

According to the study published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, the most significant reduction in risk occurred in the first 10 years after quitting, with a modest but continued decline in later years.

Although bladder cancer is a fairly rare cancer type, representing an estimated 4.6 per cent of new cancer cases in 2019, it is the most common malignancy of the urinary system, with high recurrence rate and significant mortality, said Yueyao Li, a PhD candidate at Indiana University in the US.

"Smoking is a well-established risk factor for bladder cancer, but findings on the relationship between duration of smoking cessation and the reduction in bladder cancer risk are inconsistent," Li said in a statement.

She added that while bladder cancer is more common in men, women often have worse outcomes, even when diagnosed at similar stages.

In this study, ...