Smokers face a five times higher risk of developing bladder cancer compared to non-smokers, according to a new study.

Researchers found that among individuals who smoked the same total number of cigarettes over their lifetime, smoking fewer cigarettes per day for more years may be more harmful than smoking more cigarettes per day for fewer years.

It is well known that cigarette smoking causes bladder cancer, but the influence of various parameters of smoking history, including trends in risk over time, is unclear.

Dalsu Baris of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Maryland in the US and her colleagues from Dartmouth Medical School and others, examined bladder cancer risk in relation to smoking practices based on data from a large, population-based case, from 2001 to 2004.

The researchers found that "the observed relationship between smoking and bladder cancer risk was stronger than reported in earlier studies, with statistically significant trends in risk with increasing duration, intensity, and pack-years for both men and women," according to an NCI release.

These findings were published online in the Monday edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Text courtesy: IANS