THE TREND OF INCIDENCE OF BLADDER CANCER IN IRAN, 2003- 2009

Bladder cancer is the 11th most common cancer and the 14th leading cause of
cancer deaths worldwide. Understanding the epidemiology of bladder cancer is very effective in the
health planning of this cancer. According to lack of information in the field, the present study was
carried out in order to investigate the epidemiology and trend of incidence of bladder cancer in Iran in
2003 to 2009.
Materials & Methods: The required data for this cross-sectional study were extracted from the data
published by the Ministry of Health during 2003 to 2009. Age and gender specific incidence rates
were calculated and the time trend of sex-specific incidence was plotted during this period.
Results: Evaluation of cancer registration data from 2003 to 2009 illustrated the ascending trend of
bladder cancer in the country. And 27,898 incident bladder cancer cases recorded in the whole country
showed an increase from 2745 cases in 2003 to 4601 cases in 2009. The lowest and the highest
incidence in men and women have been reported respectively in 2003 and 2008. Among the provinces
of Iran, the highest and the lowest rate of bladder cancer incidence among Iranian males were reported
respectively in Tehran province and in South Khorasan province. For women, the highest incidence
rate is in South Khorasan province and the lowest incidence rate is in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad
Province. The sex ratio of male to female was 4.63.
Conclusions: Based on the results, the incidence rate of bladder cancer in Iran is rising. Although a
proportion of this increase may be due to improvements in cancer registration system, still the
probability of increasing the incidence of bladder cancer exists with increasing life expectancy,
lifestyle and other risk factors. Thus planning to investigate the causes of this cancer can be useful in
the primary prevention of the cancer