High prevalence of airway obstruction and pulmonary emphysema in urothelial (renal pelvis, ureter, and bladder) cancer patients.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a major cause of COPD, with patients also presenting complications that stem from other smoking-related diseases, including urothelial cancer. However, the prevalence of COPD or airflow obstruction in urothelial cancer patients has not been well studied.

Methods: We investigated the prevalence of airflow obstruction (FEV1/FVC < 70%) in newly diagnosed urothelial cancer patients and identified the risk factors for airflow obstruction in existing urothelial cancer patients. Additionally, we compared the characteristics of subjects who had been diagnosed with both airflow obstruction and urothelial cancer, and subjects whose airflow obstruction was discovered during health screenings.

Results: A total of 217 patients were newly diagnosed with urothelial cancer during the study period at our institution. Among all patients, 210 (96.8%) underwent an evaluable lung function test, in which 38.6% (81 patients) displayed airflow obstruction defined as FEV1/FVC < 70%. In urothelial cancer patients, age, smoking index (pack-years), and BMI proved to be significant risk factors for airflow obstruction in multivariate logistic regression (p = 0.007, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.035, respectively). Gender, cancer stage, and cancer location were not significant risk factors. Patients with both airflow obstruction and urothelial cancer showed a more advanced emphysematous change than subjects presenting with airflow obstruction alone (unpaired t-test, p = 0.0003).

Conclusions: Airflow obstruction was identified in 38.6% of urothelial cancer patients. Age, smoking index (pack-years), and BMI were significant risk factors. A significantly higher emphysematous score was observed in subjects with urothelial cancer than in subjects with airway obstruction alone.