About 600 men and 300 women die from this disease each year in New York State. It is estimated that one in 30 men and one in 85 women will develop bladder cancer sometime during their life. While the incidence of bladder cancer is increasing, mortality from the disease is not increasing. Improvements in care have led to better survival rates. Cancer of the bladder is more common in older people.
Bladder cancer is more common in men than in women.
It also occurs more frequently in whites than in African-Americans. As a result, the prevalence of bladder cancer is high. At this time, scientists do not know exactly what causes cancer of the bladder. We do know that smoking is the greatest risk factor for getting bladder cancer. People who smoke have more than twice the risk of getting bladder cancer than nonsmokers.