What is bladder cancer?
Bladder cancer occurs when cells in the lining of the bladder grow and divide in an abnormal, uncontrolled way. There are three main types of bladder cancer. Approximately 90% of bladder cancers are urothelial carcinoma, which begins in urothelial cells of the bladders lining. The less common types are squammous cell carcinoma (develop in the bladder lining) and adenocarcinoma (develops from glandular cells).
You can access further information about bladder cancer, including risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment from Cancer Council Victoria. You can also call our trusted cancer nurses on 13 11 20 for support and to learn about our range of services for people affected by cancer.
The Victorian Cancer Registry also operates an interactive web portal, Data Explorer, which provides more trends and statistics than published here.
How common is bladder cancer?
In 2021, 736 Victorians were diagnosed with bladder cancer. Of these, there were 559 males and 177 females, representing 76% and 24% of the total Victorian bladder cancer diagnoses, respectively. Currently, bladder cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 7.6 per 100,000 males and 2.1 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of bladder cancer is 73 years in males and 75 in females (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 2% of all cancers diagnosed and 2.8% of all cancer-related deaths in 2021, bladder cancer was the 15th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 12th most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victoria.
Trends in bladder cancer over time
Figure 3 shows that since 1982 incidence of bladder cancer has decreased by an average of 2.7% per year in males and decreased by an average of 3.1% per year in females. Over the past 39 years, mortality from bladder cancer has decreased by 1.5% per year in males and decreased by 1.4% per year in females.
Bladder cancer morphology
Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused bladder cancer among all cases. Most bladder cancer tumours, 90.2%, present as Urothelial carcinoma tumours.
Geographical variance in bladder cancer by local government area
Figure 5 demonstrates variation in age-standardised incidence rates of bladder cancer, by local government areas. Darker shading indicates areas with higher rates of bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer in people born overseas
Figure 6 shows the age standardised incidence rates of bladder cancer in Australian-born Victorians compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2017 to 2021. The highest age standardised incidence rate for bladder cancer was 11.6 for males born in the Middle East and North Africa region and the lowest rate of 3.1 was observed in males born in the South-East Asia region. The highest age standardised incidence rate for bladder cancer was 2.2 for females born in the UK and Ireland region and lowest rate of 0.6 was observed in females born in the South and Central America region.
Bladder cancer five-year relative survival
Figure 7 shows the change in 5-year survival for bladder cancer, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has decreased for bladder cancer between 1986-1990 and 2016-2020 from 70% to 56%.