Color blindness and bladder cancer

Bladder cancer manifests itself through traces of blood in the urine. This is an easy warning sign for most people to identify. But what about people who are color blind and cannot correctly identify certain colors?

𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 is the fourth most common cancer in men in the United States and causes more than 16,000 deaths per year in that country. One of the easily identifiable signs is the 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞. Sometimes, this is the 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 if there is no pain. 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 is one of the most common 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, affecting 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. In most cases, it is the ability to 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐝 that is affected.

An article published in 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ investigated whether patients with 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 have poorer outcomes than patients without color blindness. The study showed that color-blind patients with bladder cancer had a 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 than those without color blindness. The same analyses were performed on a group of patients with 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 instead of bladder cancer, but the reduction in survival was 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 in this group.

These results suggest that screening for certain diseases, particularly certain cancers, should be 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, such as patients with color blindness, who may have more difficulty perceiving warning signs 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝. Further studies on this subject are needed, particularly to differentiate between the 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬.