TOBACCO, OCCUPATION AND NON-TRANSITIONAL-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE BLADDER - AN INTERNATIONAL CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Transitional-cell carcinoma is the dominant histological type of malig nant tumors of the urinary bladder. There is limited information on ri sk factors for non-transitional-cell carcinoma (NTCC) of the bladder. We used data from 9 case-control studies on bladder cancer from 6 Euro pean countries to examine the association between NTCC, tobacco smokin g and occupation. Information on 146 cases diagnosed with NTCC were ma tched by age, gender and study center to 727 non-cancer population or hospital controls and also with 722 transitional-cell-bladder-cancer c ontrols. Lifetime smoking and occupational history were evaluated. A s tatistically significant excess risk for NTCC was observed for current smoking [odds ratio (OR)= 3.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.08-6.2 8]. The risk increased with higher tobacco consumption (OR for highest tertile of pack-years = 7.01, 95% CI 3.60-13.66), The risks were high er for squamous-cell carcinomas than for other types of NTCC, Among ma jor occupational groups, a significant excess risk was seen for field- crop and vegetable-farm workers (OR = 2.06, 95% CI 1.03-4.10), These r esults indicate that NTCC of the bladder is associated with smoking an d specific occupations. The risk pattern seems to differ, in part, fro m that observed for transitional-cell carcinoma of the bladder. (C) 19 99 Wiley-Liss, Inc.