Lower proportion of bladder cancer diagnosed at unscheduled hospitalization after introduction of standardized care pathways in Sweden

Authors

  • Fredrik Liedberg Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden; Department of Urology, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
  • Johannes Bobjer Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden; Department of Urology, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
  • Oskar Hagberg Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
  • Firas Aljabery Division of Urology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
  • Truls Gårdmark Department of Urology, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Staffan Jahnson Division of Urology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
  • Tomas Jerlström Department of Urology, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
  • Henrik Kjölhede Department of Urology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Viveka Ströck Department of Urology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Karin Söderkvist Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
  • Anders Ullén Department of Pelvic Cancer, Genitourinary Oncology and Urology Unit, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Lars Holmberg School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  • Christel Häggström Northern Register Centre, Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2340/sju.v61.46994

Keywords:

hematuria, standardized care pathway, bladder cancer, unscheduled hospitalization

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the probability for being diagnosed with bladder cancer in conjunction with unscheduled hospitalization before and after 2015 when standardized care pathways (SCP) for urinary tract cancer was introduced in Sweden.

Material and methods: Unscheduled hospitalization was defined as in-hospital care with transurethral resection of bladder tumor without previous outpatient cystoscopy in patients with bladder cancer in BladderBaSe 2.0. Three calendar years before introduction of SCP (2011–2014) and after (2016–2019) were compared using adjusted logistic regression models to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for being diagnosed at an unscheduled hospital admission.

Results: The study included 9998 and 11,647 patients diagnosed before and after the introduction of SCP, respectively. Proportions of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer in conjunction with unscheduled hospitalization was 13% before and 7% after implementation of SCP. Compared to patients diagnosed prior to introduction of SCP, patients diagnosed after had an adjusted OR for unscheduled hospitalization of 0.50 (95% confidence interval 0.46–0.55).

Conclusions: Following the implementing SCP for bladder cancer, the proportion of patients diagnosed with bladder cancer during an unscheduled hospitalization in Sweden decreased, even after adjustment for potential confounders.

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Published

2026-10-15

How to Cite

Liedberg, F., Bobjer, J., Hagberg, O., Aljabery, F., Gårdmark, T., Jahnson, S., … Häggström, C. (2026). Lower proportion of bladder cancer diagnosed at unscheduled hospitalization after introduction of standardized care pathways in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Urology, 61(1), 241–246. https://doi.org/10.2340/sju.v61.46994

Issue

Vol. 61 (2026)

Section

Publications

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Copyright (c) 2026 Fredrik Liedberg, Johannes Bobjer, Oskar Hagberg, Firas Aljabery, Truls Gårdmark, Staffan Jahnson, Tomas Jerlström, Henrik Kjölhede, Viveka Ströck, Karin Söderkvist, Anders Ullén, Lars Holmberg, Christel Häggström

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

As from Volume 59 (2024) all published articles, unless otherwise specified, are published under CC-BY license, allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, with the condition of proper attribution to the original work. 

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