Study to assess Clinical and Socio-Demographic profile of oral cancer patients from central India

Abstract

Background: India is the leading country in world with continuously increasing trends of oral cancer cases. It is well established fact that survival for suffer is very poor if the advanced stage of oral cancer was reached. The purpose of the study was to assess the clinical profile of oral cancer cases and its related epidemiological features. Material and Methods: A Hospital based Cross-Sectional study was conducted from 1st March 2018 to 28th February 2019 in the Department of Radiotherapy of Jaya Arogya (J.A.) Group of Hospitals and Department of Surgical Oncology at Cancer Hospital and Research Institute Jan Vikas Nyas, Gwalior. A total of 340 participants were interviewed by a pre designed structured questionnaire. Appropriate statistical tests were applied and the result was considered at 5 % level of significance. Results: The mean age of the patients was 47.68(±11.558) years with 91.47% were males and 8.53 % were females. The most common first symptom felt by the patients was ulcers in mouth (82.4%) and difficulty in swallowing (5.3%) were .The buccal mucosa (46.5%) and tongue (41.2%) were the most affected sites. The majority of cases were from low socio economic classes and were of advanced stage (Stage III and IV) with Stage III being the predominant stage at presentation followed by Stage IV. Conclusion: Oral cancer was more common in males above 40 years of age and more common among rural patients from low socioeconomic class. The ulcers in mouth was found as the most common first symptom reported by the patients .The Buccal mucosa was the most common site and mostly patients were from Stage III and Stage IV Category.