Can Reproductive Characteristics Predict Bladder Cancer in Women with Haematuria?

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Among women with haematuria, defining individuals under high risk for bladder cancer basedon reproductive factors prior to cystoscopy would be of great benefit in the management of this condition. Theaim of this study was to compare age and reproductive factors such as menopausal status, parity, age at firstdelivery and age at the last delivery between women who have haematuria with or without bladder cancer.Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: A total of 463 patients underwent diagnostic cystoscopy in Düzce University Faculty ofMedicine between 1 June 2008 and 1 June 2013. Female patients who presented with persistent microscopic ormacroscopic haematuria and underwent standard evaluation for haematuria including urinalysis, urine culture,urine cytology, urinary tract imaging with excretory urography or computerized tomography with contrastenhancement and endoscopic evaluation of the urethra and bladder were included in this study. Exclusion criteriawere tobacco use and high risk occupations for bladder cancer such as textile, dry cleaning, painting and etc.Forteen women had hematuria due to benign conditions, and 18 due to bladder cancer. Data were retrospectivelyretrieved from the medical records of Duzce University Hospital. <br/><b>Results</b>: Patients with haematuria due tobenign reasons did not significantly differ from patients who were found to have bladder cancer in terms of age(p=0.28), menopausal status (p=0.29), mean parity (p=0.38), being nulliparous (p=0.57), parity ≥3 (p=0.22), age≤18 years at first delivery (p=1.00), age ≥30 years at last delivery (p=0.26), age ≥35 years at last delivery (p=0.23)and percentage of the patients with advanced age (≥65 years) (p=0.18). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: It is difficult to predict ahigh risk for developing bladder cancer in women with haematuria based solely on reproductive factors.