Oral Cancer And Its Risk Factors: A Case-Control Study In Haryana
Abstract
Objective: Oral cancer, a common and deadly mouth cancer, is linked to oral health behaviors and dietary imbalances, which cause 11–15% of oral and laryngeal cancers. This study aimed to establish the relationship between oral cancer and its risk factors in the study population and to compare these findings with healthy controls to determine their significance.
Material and Methods: This hospital-based case-control study included 86 oral squamous cell carcinoma patients aged 18+. Categorical data are shown as frequencies and proportions; continuous data as mean±S.D. Chi-square test assessed categorical variables.
Results: All 86 cases were in the age range of 44-62 years. The difference in occurrence of oral cancer in relation to education, marital status, type of food consumed, frequency of the consumption of fresh fruits, hot/spicy foods, saturated fats, consumption of onion/garlic, iron deficiency anaemia, malaligned, decayed and missing teeth, halitosis, frequency of toothbrushing, and using mouthwash, presence of dentures, and past history of dental procedure/trauma were statistically significant (p-value<0.05).
Conclusion: We found that the type of food consumption and poor oral hygiene play a significant role in the causation of oral cancer. The prevalence of OC can be decreased by altering one’s lifestyle through education, the promotion of healthy eating habits, practicing proper oral hygiene, and avoiding denture/brush stress to the oral cavity.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Coelho KR. Challenges of the oral cancer burden in India. J Cancer Epidemiol 2020.
Westra WH, Lewis JS. Update from the 4th edition of the World Health Organization classification of head and neck tumours: oropharynx. Head Neck Pathol 2019;11:41–7.
Stanford-Moore G, Bradshaw PT, Weissler MC. Interaction between known risk factors for head and neck cancer and socioeconomic status: The Carolina Head and Neck Cancer Study. Cancer Causes Control 2020;29:863–73.
World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2017. Alcohol policy in the WHO South-East Asia region: a report. [homepage on the Internet]. New Delhi: WHO; 2017 [cited 2022 Fed 12]. Available from: http://apps.searo.who.int (PDS_DOCS/B5383.pdf)
De Podesta OPG, Peres SV, Salaroli LB. Consumption of minimally processed foods as protective factors in the genesis of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in Brazil. PLoS One 2019;14:e0220067.
Rosato V, Kawakita D, Negri E. Processed meat and risk of selected digestive tract and laryngeal cancers. Eur J Clin Nutr 2019;73:141-9.
Garcia-Martin JM, Varela-Centelles P, Gonz’alez M, Seoane-Romero JM, Seoane J, Garcia-Pola MJ. Epidemiology of Oral Cancer. In: Oral cancer detection. Cham: Springer; 2019;p.81–93.
de Martel C, Georges D, Bray F. Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2020;8:e180-90.
Nagappa B, Jayalakshmi R, Sujiv A, Marimuthu Y. Opportunistic screening for alcohol and tobacco use among male patients seeking care from an urban primary health center. MAMC J Med Sci 2019;5:150-1.
Crastha S, Thangaraj S, Sobagiah RT. Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of risk factors of oral cancer among the adult population of rural field practice area of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. Int J Community Med Public Health 2018;5:574-8.
Coelho KR. Challenges of the Oral Cancer Burden in India. J Cancer Epidemiol 2012;2012:701932.
International Institute for Population Sciences. India National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21. Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences; 2021.
Modi D, Laishram RS, Sharma LD, Debnath K. Pattern of oral cavity lesions in a tertiary care hospital in Manipur, India. J Med Soc 2013;27:199-202.
Brandizzi D, Gandolfo M, Velazco ML, Cabrini RL, Lanfranchi HE. Clinical features and evolution of oral cancer: a study of 274 cases in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 2008;13:E544-8.
Babshet M, Nandimath K, Pervatikar SK, Naikmasur VG. Efficacy of oral brush cytology in the evaluation of the oral premalignant and malignant lesions. J Cytol 2011;28:165-72.
Dowerah E, Bhuyan AP. Clinicopathological study of oral cavity neoplasms: experience at a tertiary care hospital of Assam, India. The Clar 2014;3:1-6.
Rodríguez-Molinero J, Migueláñez-Medrán BD, Puente-Gutiérrez C, Delgado Somolinos E, Martín Carreras-Presas C, Fernández-Farhall J, et al. Association between oral cancer and diet: an update. Nutrients 2021;13:1299.
Dholam KP, Chouksey GC. Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx in patients aged 18–45 years: a case–control study to evaluate the risk factors with emphasis on stress, diet, oral hygiene, and family history. Indian J Cancer 2016;53:244.
Dhar PK, Rao TR, Sreekumaran Nair N, Mohan S, Chandra S, Bhat KR, et al. Identification of risk factors for specific subsites within the oral and oropharyngeal region-a study of 647 cancer patients. Indian J Cancer 2000;37:114-22.
Saintrain MV1, Holanda TG, Bezerra TM, de Almeida PC. Prevalence of soft tissue oral lesion in elderly and its relations with deleterious habits. Gerodontology 2012;29:130-4.
Mazur M, Bietolini S, Bellardini D, Lussi A, Corridore D, Maruotti A, et al. Oral health in a cohort of individuals on a plant-based diet: a pilot study. La Clinica Terapeutica 2020;171:e142-8.
Sharen AA, Kavitha S, Vishnupriya V, Gayathri R. Cytotoxic evaluation of onion oil on oral cancer cell. Drug Invent Today 2019;12.
Singh M, Jain A, Bodal VK, Kaur J. A clinico-pathological study of 200 cases of oral cavity lesions. Res J PharmBiol Chem Sci 2014;5:1035-40.
Lype E M, Pandey M. Oral cancer among patients under the age of 35 years. J Postgrad Med 2001;47:171-6.
Prasan D. Clinico-pathological study of oral cancers. J Dent Sci 2015;14:35-8.
Gaphor SM, Sabri ZA. Prevalence of oral premalignant and malignant Lesions among referred Kurdish patients Attending Department of Oral and Maxilofacial in Sulaimani Teaching Hospital. IOSR J Dent Med Sci 2014;13:32-6.
Ghantous Y, Abu Elnaaj I. Global incidence and risk factors of oral cancer. Harefuah 2017;156:645-9.
Du M, Nair R, Jamieson L. Incidence trends of lip, oral cavity, and pharyngeal cancers: global burden of disease. J Dent Res 2020;99:143-51.
Shin YJ, Choung HW, Lee JH, Rhyu IC, Kim HD. Association of periodontitis with oral cancer: a case-control study. J Dent Res 2019;98:526-33. doi: 10.1177/0022034519827565.
Ernani V, Saba NF. Oral cavity cancer: risk factors, pathology, and management. Oncology 2015;89:187–95.
Vozza I, Caldarazzo V, Ottolenghi L. Changes in microflora in dental plaque from cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and the relationship of these changes with mucositis: a pilot study. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 2015;20:e259-66.
Rodrigues I, Botelho J, Machado V, Proença L, Mendes JJ Zagalo C. Profiling oral health status, values, and related quality of life in patients with oral cancer: a pilot study. Front Oral Health 2023;4. doi. org/10.3389/froh.2023.1268657.
Regezi JA, Sciubba JJ, Jordan RCK. Oral pathology: clinical pathologic correlations. St Louis: Elsevier; 2017.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.

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