Bloody urine may alternatively be a symptom of prostate cancer, notes Urology Associates. Researchers from a 2013 study published in ISRN Surgery analyzed how many patients diagnosed with carcinoma of the prostate (CAP) were hospitalized for hematuria between 1991 to 2011. The researchers determined that the cause of patients’ bloody urine was linked with the kind of primary cancer treatment they received. For CAP patients who underwent surgery, hematuria was primarily related to bladder cancer or a urinary infection. For patients who received nonsurgical cancer treatments, however, it was prostate cancer itself that was found to cause bloody urine in the majority of these patients.
While exact prevalence rates of hematuria in patients with prostate cancer have not been determined, researchers from a 2022 systematic review published in BJU International set out to determine if the relationship between hematuria and prostate cancer was strong enough to warrant prostate cancer examinations as a standard healthcare practice for patients seeking medical care for bloody urine. Prevalence rates of prostate cancer stood at just under 6% in men with macroscopic hematuria, or blood that can be seen by the naked eye in the form of pink-tinted urine. Since it proved to be a statistically significant relationship, the researchers suggested that medical professionals issue prostate examinations for men experiencing blood in their urine.