Socio-Demographic Factors Related to Oral Cancer

Problem statement: The aim of this study was to identify factors related to cancer of oral cavity considering individual socio-demographic characteristics of a hospital based study in Pune. Approach: A case-control study was conducted. The cases were 350 with squamous-cell carcinoma of oral cavity diagnosed between 2005 and 2006 in Morbai, Narandia, Budharani Cancer Institute, Pune, India. Similar number of controls matched for age and sex selected from the background population. Cases and controls were interviewed for general characteristics; age, gender, education and possible socio-demographic factors. Results: Chi-square test in uni-variate analysis and estimate for risk showed that education, occupation and monthly household income were significantly different between cases and controls (p<0.001). Irrespective to gender, relative risk, here Odds Ratio (OR) of low level of education (OR = 5.3, CI 3.7-7.6), working in field as an agriculture (OR = 2.5, CI 1.7-3.7) and monthly household income less than 5000 Indian Rupees currency (OR = 1.7, CI 1.2-2.3) were significant risk factors for oral cancer. While, there was no significant relationship between religious and or marital status either in males or females. Conclusion/Recommendations: Socio-demographic factors such as education, occupation and income do play an important role in development oral cancer.