Chronic Indwelling Urinary Catheter Increase the Risk of Bladder Cancer, Even in Patients Without Spinal Cord Injury

Chronic indwelling urinary catheters (CIDCs) are known as a risk factor for bladder cancer in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). This study examined the potential risk of bladder cancer from CIDCs in patients without SCI. The National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan was used to identify SCI patients (N = 1816). This group was compared against a control CIDC cohort without SCI (N = 1816) and a reference cohort with normal individuals without SCI and a record of CIDC (N = 7264). Comparisons were made based on age and gender matching over a maximum of 11 follow-up years. The incidence risk and hazard ratio (HR) of bladder cancer were estimated in all 3 groups. During the follow-up period, the bladder cancer incidence rates were 68.90 and 102.53 per 100,000 person-years in the SCI and CIDC-non-SCI groups, respectively. These values were both higher than that of the reference cohort (12.00 per 100,000 person-years). Patients who had history of SCI (HR: 6.51; 95% CI, 2.56–16.52) or CIDC without SCI (HR: 9.11; 95% CI, 3.9–21.29) had a higher risk of bladder cancer compared with the reference cohort. Patients with CIDCs may have an increased risk of bladder cancer development, especially in older aged and male patients compared with general population.