The highest rate for bladder cancer in Latin America has been reported from La Plata, Argentina. A case-control study was carried out to investigate the reasons for this high rate. cases and A total of I17 cases, I17 hospital controls and I17 neighbour-Cases were patients with a histologically confirmed diagnohood sex-and age-matched controls were interviewed regard-sis of bladder cancer (transitional, squamous-cell or non-specing their smoking and drinking habits and occupational ified carcinoma) and admitted to 10 ~~~~~~l ~~~ (4 exposures. Cigarette smoking and coffee drinking were iden-public and 6 private hospitals) in the counties of La Plats, tified as the major risk factors, and a significant association Berisso and Ensenada (Greater La Plats, population 580,000 was also found for truck and railway drivers and for oil refinery workers. The relative risks for male smokers who ever in 1980) between March 1983 and December 1985. Patients smoked cigarettes VS. non-smokers was 4.3 (95% CI: 1.9-10.3). with a diagnosis of a true bladder papilloma or who had The risk associated with black tobacco cigarettes was 2-3 resided in Greater La Plata for less than 5 years were extimes higher than that of blond cigarettes. For male ex-smok-cluded. A total of 120 cases were reported to the study; one err the risk after 5 years of no smoking is less than one third died before interview, 2 refused to participate and 117 were of that of current smokers. The RR for drinking coffee was interviewed. Out of these, 92.6% had a diagnosis of transi-2.4 (95% cl: 1-4-44 after adjusting for the effects of tobacco tional-cell carcinoma, 4.2% of squamous-cell carcinoma and day. No association was found with the use of saccharine.
cancer is One Of the most common
MATERIAL AND METHODS
smoking* and the risk increased with the number Of per 3.1 % of non-specified carcinomas. The 117 cases represent about 60% of the incident cases registered in the cancer registry of La Plata during the study period. Two control groups were used, one of hospital controls and males in the La Plata area of Argentina. La Plata showed the one of neighbourhod controls matched by sex and age (_+ highest rates for bladder cancer among the 10 cities which years). The 117 hospital controls were selected from the same participated in the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality hospital as the and among patients who had been hospifrom 1962-1964 (Puffer and Griffith, 1967): 14.6 per W O O 0 talized for the first time within 3 months following the diag-