Smoking is much more dangerous as it is known. According to a new study smoking can increase a person's risk of developing bladder cancer, a risk that the majority of the population seems to be unaware of. The professor James E. Montie said: "The general public understands that cigarette smoking can lead to lung cancer, but very few people understand that it also can lead to bladder cancer."

The researchers compiled data from all studies about bladder cancer and smoking between 1975 and 2007. They found that the correlation between smoking behavior and bladder cancer risk is very strong. For example, one study found that a person's risk of developing bladder cancer goes down by 40 percent within the first four years of quitting smoking. The researchers also diagnosed patients with bladder cancer and they found that only 22 percent of bladder cancer patients surveyed knew that smoking increases the risk of developing the disease.

The biggest gap exists between patient knowledge and their actual risk. That’s why researchers suggested that physicians must do a much better job of communicating the risk to our patients, and directing them toward smoking cessation programs. Bladder cancer is considered to be one of the most expensive forms of cancer to treat. In the United States, it is the fourth most common cancer in men in the ninth most common in women, with more than 47,000 new cases diagnosed in men and 16,000 in women each year. The higher prevalence in men is believed to be due to the fact that male sex hormones play a role in the development of the disease.

Researchers sustained that exposure to secondhand smoke is also a suspected risk factor.