Introduction
The key role of epidemiology is to protect public health by providing important information about causes, incidence, and risk factors for a disease. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the recent trends in this field. One of the current events in epidemiology is conducting an analysis of bladder cancer incidence, its mortality trends, and projection.
Objectives of the Study
The recent study of this problem was conducted by Wong et al. in their new work. They noted that “examining the patterns and temporal trends of bladder cancer could quantify geographical variations, shed light on health planning and priority setting, and explore modifiable factors that might have brought about trend changes” (Wong et al., 2018, p. 2). It is emphasized that at present there are two gaps in the studies of bladder cancer. Over the past decades, environmental situation has changed due to the technological development in advanced countries that were listed to have the highest incidence of the disease in the previous reports. There is also the lack of research on the role that socioeconomic development plays on changing mortality and incidence rates on the worldwide level. Therefore, the main objective of the conducted study was to test a hypothesis that the mortality caused by bladder cancer decreased over the past years while the temporal trends in its incidence increased worldwide and are correlated with socioeconomic development which is specific to the selected countries.
Findings and Design of the Study
For this research, correlation type of study design was used. The bladder cancer incidence and mortality data used in the work was retrieved from the GLOBOCAN database. It was matched with the countries’ Gross Domestic Product and Human Development Index that was recently published in the United Nations Human Development Report. The WHO database and other national databases were also used to study mortality. The recent trends in incidence and mortality for bladder cancer were detected with the help of a joinpoint regression analysis. The results were compared with the data received during the similar study in 2012.
It was indicated that the rates of incidence increased in seven countries in Europe while declining in eleven countries including China, New Zealand, and Austria, and remaining stable in twenty-one countries (Wong et al., 2018). Still, it is reported that only Ecuador and the Philippines showed increasing rates of mortality. Therefore, it is possible to say that many countries that were included in the given research showed decreasing mortality rates.
The study is believed to contain the most updated data related to the bladder cancer epidemiological profile. The results are explained by the higher rate of tobacco, alcohol and red meat consumption in the developed countries. Other researchers confirm that “in various populations, tobacco has been found to be responsible for about half of all bladder cancer cases and 40% of all bladder cancer deaths” (Antoni et al., 2017, p. 103). Traditionally, incidence and mortality rates are higher among men. Thus, this study may have a significant impact on the average reader and influence the decision to quit some bad habits. There is no important information that was left out in this article.
Conclusion
The research of bladder cancer incidence and mortality is one of the recent events in the field of epidemiology. It showed the decrease in mortality rates because of the development of the appropriate health care measures used for the timely detection of this disease. It is also noted that “with population ageing and population growth, the absolute incidence of bladder cancer might be further escalating in European nations” (Wong et al., 2018, p. 11). Still, further research is needed to detect underlying mechanisms involved in this epidemiological trend.
References
Antoni, S., Ferlay, J., Soerjomataram, I., Znaor, A., Jemal, A., & Bray, F. (2017). Bladder cancer incidence and mortality: A global overview and recent trends. European Urology, 71(1), 96-108.
Wong, M. C. S., Fung, F. D. H., Leung, C., Cheung, W. W. L., Goggins, W. B., & Ng C. F. (2018). The global epidemiology of bladder cancer: A joinpoint regression analysis of its incidence and mortality trends and projection. Scientific Reports, 1129(8), 1-12.