Fun with numbers

Forget my lack of statistics savvy. I've been having a good time reading and trying to understand the numbers here.

This is National Cancer Institute's searchable cancer statistics data compiled from all of their studies over who-knows-how-many-years.

Here are a couple of favorite data points for white women and bladder cancer:

Median Age at First Diagnosis: 74

Median Age at Death: 80

That means that half the (white female) patients who are diagnosed with bladder cancer at any age live past 80.

I do have to admit I'm pretty shocked that it seems that half of patients are also over 74 at first diagnosis, but that doesn't mean it's the same half as the long living one...

Anyway, no wonder they think of it as an old person's cancer. I'm more than 30 years "too young" for first diagnosis not to mention I don't have the standard high risk factor which is smoking.

If you know any women who still smoke them then not only are they putting themselves at risk for lung cancer but they are also increasing their risk of bladder cancer by two to three times!