• Bladder cancer is not a rare cancer
• It is one of the ten most common cancers in the UK
• Over 20,500 people in the UK are diagnosed each year - that's 56 people every day (500,000 worldwide) 
• That's 4.5% of all new cancer cases
• Over 100,000 people are living with it in the UK
• Bladder cancer has a high mortality rate - around 50%
• Diagnosis can often be late - around 25% of all cases are diagnosed at a late stage, particularly in women
• It affects all ages, both men and women, with almost three quarters of cases occuring in men
• Has the highest recurrence rate of any known cancer - up to 80%
• It is the only top 10 cancer where rates of prognosis are getting worse
• It is one of the most expensive cancer for the NHS to treat costing £65million annually
• Only got 0.6% (in 2013-2014) of dedicated research funding

There are over 200 different types of cancer - and bladder cancer is one of the 10 most common in the UK (men and women).  Bladder cancer is not a rare cancer.  

Despite this, there is very limited public awareness of the disease and it is a relatively low priority on the public health agenda.   ABC UK is dedicated to changing this and to helping people understand more about bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer has been called the ‘Cinderella' of urological cancers.   

Despite the rate of incidence and the levels of recurrence and mortality, bladder cancer has been overlooked in terms of research spending.  Other, less common, cancers have received support and resources and consequently have demonstrated a significant improvement in outcomes for patients.   Bladder cancer patients deserve access to better treatments and innovative new drugs. 

Research into bladder cancer has lagged behind other, more high profile, cancers and because of this there have been few advances in new treatments or improvement in survival rates over the past 30 years.      

Patient outcomes can be considerably improved by early diagnosis - up to 80% survival rate if caught early enough - so one of our key aims is to raise awareness both amongst the public and GPs of the symptoms and the need to take action much earlier. 

Bladder cancer is not only a disease of older people - younger people can also be affected.  Although smoking can be a major factor in the causes of bladder cancer, in over 50% of cases we do not know the cause.

The 20 most common cancers UK 2015 (CRUK)

References

CRUK The 20 most common cancers (2015) 

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/incidence/common-cancers-compared

CRUK (2015). Bladder cancer incidence statistics

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/bladder-cancer/incidence

CRUK (2015). Bladder cancer mortality statistics

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/mortality/common-cancers-compared