Bladder cancer diagnosed incident cases across 8MM to reach 0.34 mn in 2033

The diagnosed incident cases of bladder cancer in the eight major markets (8MM*) are set to register an annual growth rate (AGR) of 2.24 per cent from 0.28 million in 2023 to 0.34 million in 2033, forecasts GlobalData.

GlobalData’s latest report, “Bladder Cancer – Epidemiology Forecast to 2033,” reveals that the US will have the highest number of diagnosed incident cases of bladder cancer among the 8MM at 0.10 million cases, whereas France will have the lowest number at 0.02 million cases in 2033.

Antara Bhattacharya, Associate Project Manager, Epidemiology team at GlobalData, comments: “In 2023, men are more affected than women with approximately 78 per cent men and 22 per cent women.”

Older adults aged 60 years and above accounted for almost 87 per cent of the diagnosed incident cases of bladder cancer in the 8MM in 2023, while younger adults in ages 18–59 years accounted for approximately 13 per cent of the cases.

GlobalData estimates that in 2023, approximately 45 per cent of the incident cases of bladder cancer were diagnosed in the early stages by AJCC TNM staging, whereas only 6 per cent of cases had a delayed diagnosis. Additionally, approximately 79 per cent of the incident cases by tumour “T” stage at diagnosis were diagnosed in earlier stages, whereas only 4 per cent of cases were in severe stages.

The high rate of diagnosis at earlier stages can be attributed to the success of increasing rates of cystoscopy, which is an invasive and expensive procedure. Approximately 74 per cent of diagnosed prevalent cases of NMIBC relapse or recurred to MIBC.

Bhattacharya concludes, “Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer type, and timely detection of the disease is both challenging and expensive. Diagnosis relies mainly on cystoscopy, which is an invasive procedure and is difficult in low-resource settings. Even after being diagnosed in the early stages when the disease is highly treatable, the relapse and recurrence rates are high.

“Hence, adequate research and medical interventions are needed to facilitate different medical approaches for the timely detection and treatment. Epidemiological studies focusing on bladder cancer stages with relapse or recurrence can improve treatment outcomes. Additionally, bladder cancer treatment requires a multifaceted approach that integrates medical and surgical interventions, lifestyle modifications, ongoing support, along with immunotherapy, targeted therapy, clinical trials, and follow-up care.”

*8MM: The US, 5EU (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK), Japan, and urban China.

Edits made by EP News Bureau