In a matched case-control study of cancer of the lower urinary tract in northern Germany in which 340 male and 91 female case-control pairs were interviewed between 1977 and 1982, cigarette smokers were found to have an odds ratio of 2.3 for males and 2.9 for females compared with nonsmokers. A significant dose-response relation was observed for increasing cigarette consumption, and a significant decrease in risk was shown for ex-smokers. Employment in rubber, plastics, dye, textiles, and mining industries was associated with a higher risk, and increased odds ratios were also observed for exposure to spray painting, coal pitch, chromium, and zinc. Controlling for smoking, an elevated risk of 2.3 for drinking more than four cups of coffee per day and significant odds ratios of 2.1 and 2.8 for a daily consumption of 0.5-1.0 liter and above 1.0 liter of beer, respectively, were noted among men. A highly significant odds ratio of 4.0 was found for a daily fluid intake of more than 2 liters. Dietary habits such as the frequent consumption of canned food and fatty meals were associated with a higher risk, whereas a regular consumption of fruits and vegetables was associated with a lower risk. Fourteen determinants found to be important in this case-control series were analyzed by using multiple logistic regression.

Data from a hospital-based matched case-control study with 531 male pairs were analyzed for risks of cancer of the lower urinary tract associated with previous employment and particular occupational exposures. Statistically significant odds ratios were obtained for ever-employment as mining workers (2.0), turners (2.3), tailors (2.7), truck drivers (1.8), locomotive drivers (3.0) and janitors (3.5), whereas odds ratios of 3.0 or more, found for rubber and plastics workers, printing workers, gas workers, artists and chemists were not statistically significant. When adjusted for smoking, there was a trend toward increasing relative risks with increasing duration of employment as truck drivers and as turners, and relative risks rose 3-fold for 30 or more years of employment. With regard to a priori high-risk industries, ever-employment in the rubber, plastics and synthetics, dyestuff and paints, mining, and printing industries and secondary processing was associated with significantly higher relative risks, and a statistically significant trend in risk with increasing duration of employment was found for the first 3 industries mentioned. With regard to job-related exposures to specified substances, the relative risks observed for increasing duration of exposure suggest that exposures to petroleum, oils, chromium/chromate, spray paints, and zinc, which correspond to exposures involved in the occupations showing a higher relative risk in this study, are associated with a higher risk for cancer of the lower urinary tract.

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