by: Jon M. Stout

The thought itself is astounding: a way possibly exists to predict if a person could possibly contract bladder cancer in the future. In recent studies, debate is emerging in regards to one theory – that lifestyle choices and the impact of living life a certain way may be related to bladder cancer. A recent study by the Department of Preventive Medicine of Nagoya University School of Medicine indicates that there might, in fact, be a strong and credible link between lifestyle and bladder cancer.

The department studied 258 bladder cancer patients in order to determine if lifestyle choices played a role in allowing medical professionals to prognosticate the possibility that patients might be susceptible to bladder cancer. This was a follow-up study of patients who had suffered from bladder cancer in metropolitan Nagoya, Japan and were recruited for study. Their personal survival information was derived from a database that was maintained by the Nagoya Bladder Cancer Research Group.

After reviewing the tests and their results, researchers were able to pinpoint several key factors that impact the occurrence and reoccurrence of this type of cancer. Univariate analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between 5 year survivorship and the level of education a person possessed, their marital status, drinking habits, and the degree of green tea consumption in males. Additional factors were the age at which the cancer was diagnosed, the histological type and grade of the any tumors, the degree of metastasis, and the state of metastasis in both sexes.

The results were adjusted for age, stage, histology (histological type and grade), and distant metastasis by means of a proportional hazards model.The consumption of alcoholic beverages was also significantly associated with the prognoses of bladder cancer in males. The ratio of adjusted hazard was 0.46 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.26 – 0.79 among males that consumed alcoholic beverages.

Detailed analysis revealed that former drinkers and every level of current drinkers exhibited hazard ratios smaller than unity, although no correlation between dosage amounts was detectable. Other factors, such as smoking habits, uses of artificial sweeteners and hair dye, and consumption of coffee, black tea, matcha (powdered green tea), and cola were detected, leading one to believe that it is reasonable to conclude that drinking any type of beverage, not just alcohol, plays a significant role in the development or reoccurrence of bladder cancer.

The significance of this is vague in terms of prognosis, although that ratio seems to indicate that at least among those who participated in the study and were bladder cancer survivors, drinking alcohol is not a very good idea. Additionally, the study showed that the higher risk factor in regards to bladder cancer and males can be correlated directly to drinking in terms of reoccurrence propensity. If you are male and have had bladder cancer, along with dietary changes and other lifestyle choices, avoiding alcoholic beverages might increase the possibility of avoiding the sickness in the future.

This, however, is not, and should not be considered conclusive, but merely the very compelling result of one specific study. Also, the indication that other factors, such as smoking, did not seem to increase the risk of reoccurrence, should not be construed as rock solid justification for those behaviors.

For instance, the fact that smoking does not apparently increase the risk bladder cancer does not in any way obviate the fact that smoking has been risked to other diseases or maladies such as heart disease, lung cancer, strokes, or degradation of blood circulation. All of these conditions are just as life-threatening as bladder cancer.

One significant factor seems to be that dosage amounts of alcohol do not seem to correlate with the propensity of reoccurrence. In fact, this study seemed to show that among moderate to heavy drinkers, the reoccurrence rate was unaffected. If one were to take this at face value, one could conclude that any drinking at all increases the chances of bladder cancer coming back.

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