Bladder cancer was the fourth most common cancer in Ireland for men and the twelfth most common for women, accounting for 1.9% of all malignant neoplasms, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, in women and 4.4% in men (Table 11.1). The average number of new cases diagnosed each year was 193 in women and 479 in men. During 1995-2007, the number of new cases diagnosed per annum remained fairly constant.
The risk of developing bladder cancer up to the age of 74 was 1 in 212 for women and 1 in 72 for men and was slightly higher in RoI than in NI. At the end of 2008, 326 women and 787 men aged under 65, and 981 women and 2,527 men aged 65 and over, were alive up to 15 years after their bladder cancer diagnosis.
Table 11.1 Summary information for bladder cancer in Ireland, 1995-2007
| Ireland | RoI | NI |
| females | males | females | males | females | males |
% of all new cancer cases | 1.4% | 3.1% | 1.4% | 3.1% | 1.3% | 3.2% |
% of all new cancer cases excluding non-melanoma skin cancer | 1.9% | 4.4% | 1.9% | 4.4% | 1.8% | 4.4% |
average number of new cases per year | 193 | 479 | 133 | 331 | 60 | 147 |
cumulative risk to age 74 | 0.5% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 0.4% | 1.3% |
15-year prevalence (1994-2008) | 1307 | 3314 | 972 | 2346 | 335 | 968 |
The distribution of age at diagnosis for bladder cancer was similar for men and women. Almost 60% of new cases were aged 70 or older at diagnosis (Figure 11.1). Only about 6% of cases presented at under 50 years of age. Age at diagnosis was slightly younger in RoI than in NI.
Figure 11.1 Age distribution of bladder cancer cases in Ireland, 1995-2007, by sex
![](/sites/ncri/files/atlas/2007/bladder_pie.png)