Having many urinary tract infections (UTIs) within six months may be a strong warning sign for bladder cancer, according to a recent study published in the journal The Lancet Primary Care.
Repeated UTIs can sometimes be linked to bladder cancer. However, doctors do not yet have a clear rule for when people with repeated UTIs should be sent for extra tests. Because of this, some patients are diagnosed with bladder cancer later, when the disease may already be more advanced. When cancer is found later, treatment can be harder and the experience for patients may be more difficult.
To better understand the link between repeated UTIs and bladder cancer, researchers looked at health records from two large health databases in England. They studied adults aged 18 and older who were diagnosed with bladder cancer between Jan. 5, 1998, and Dec. 31, 2018, and who had at least one UTI before diagnosis. After removing duplicates and people who did not meet the study rules, they ended up studying 53,936 patients. This group included 17,157 people with bladder cancer and 36,779 people without it.
The study found a clear pattern: The more UTIs a person had in the six months before diagnosis, the higher their risk of bladder cancer. People who had five or more UTIs in six months had the highest risk. However, the link became weaker as more time passed after the infections.
“Our findings can help to refine existing guideline recommendations for patients with recurrent UTIs who might benefit from further investigations to rule out possible bladder cancer,” the researchers said.
Read more about bladder cancer testing and diagnosis
The authors also found that smokers and ex-smokers, people who were white, and those who were underweight had a higher risk of bladder cancer. Hormone replacement therapy, on the older hand, decreased the risk.
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