Bladder cancer etiology. A different perspective.

The descriptive epidemiologic features of bladder cancer and lung cancer in Los Angeles County were studied for the period 1972-1976, using data from the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Cancer Surveillance Program. The incidence pattern for bladder cancer was found to differ markedly from the pattern observed for lung cancer. As expected, the descriptive pattern for lung cancer closely paralleled the known epidemiology of cigarette smoking; in addition, it was consistent with the expected pattern of an occupationally linked disease. In contrast, the pattern observed for bladder cancer indicated that factors other than cigarette smoking and occupational exposures may be etiologically important. The available descriptive epidemiology of coffee consumption, unlike that of cigarette smoking, is consistent with the pattern of bladder cancer occurrence in Los Angeles. Available analytic studies on the association of bladder cancer and coffee consumption are consistent with a causal relationship.