Bladder cancer affects almost 3,000 Australians each year and causes thousands of deaths. Yet it often has a lower profile compared to other types of cancer such as breast, lung and prostate.

The rate at which Australians are diagnosed with bladder cancer has decreased over time, which means the death rate has fallen too, although at a slower rate. This has led to an increase in the so called mortality-to-incidence ratio, a key statistic that measures the proportion of people with a cancer who die from it.