Cancer of the urinary bladder in finland

The occupational histories of 180 cases of cancer of the urinary bladder were compared to those of an age- and sex-matched control group in a questionnaire study. The cases were drawn from the records of the Finnish Cancer Registry for the years 1975–1976 and represented the most industrialized areas of Finland. Controls were chosen from the non-cancer patients in the same hospitals. Smoking was statistically significantly more common among the cases than among the controls. There were more concrete and cement exposed workers among the cases than controls, but this difference was not statistically significant; neither was there any other statistically significant difference in occupational exposure between the cases and controls. The occupations without chemical exposure were evenly distributed between the cases and controls. This indicates that occupational exposure probably has not been a major factor in the etiology of bladder cancer in Finland. Nevertheless, the small size of the sample and the insensitivity of the postal questionnaire may explain the seemingly negative result of the study. The exposure to cement and concrete as a possible etiologic factor of bladder cancer may need further study.