Association of cigarette smoking and nitrosamines with urinary bladder cancer: a review.

Past studies have shown that the association of cigarette smoking with urinary bladder cancer is positive. On this basis, blacks and Polynesians in the Pacific Basin should have higher rates of bladder cancer than observed, especially in view of their high risk for lung cancer and their frequency of smoking cigarettes. Studies were proposed as a result of the above observations. Several investigators have attempted to measure components of nitrosamines in urine specimens of patients with bladder cancer, cigarette smokers, and controls. The limitations of their studies are discussed, and new studies are proposed if the methods of nitrosamine analysis can be improved in the future.