Tobacco Chewing, Alcohol, and Nasal Snuff in Cancer of the Gingiva in Kerala, India
Author Information
Author(s): R. Sankaranarayanan, S.W. Duffy, G. Padmakumary, N.E. Day, T.K. Padmanabhan
Primary Institution: Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, India
Hypothesis
What are the effects of tobacco chewing, smoking, alcohol consumption, and snuff use on the risk of gingival cancer?
Conclusion
The study found that pan-tobacco chewing, bidi smoking, alcohol drinking, and snuff use significantly increase the risk of gingival cancer, especially with higher frequencies of use.
Supporting Evidence
- Daily frequency of pan-tobacco chewing was the strongest predictor of risk in males.
- Significant positive associations with risk were observed for pan-tobacco chewing, bidi smoking, alcohol drinking, and snuff use.
- Relative risks for pan-tobacco chewing were 15.07 for males and 13.69 for females who chewed ten or more quids per day.
- Alcohol consumption was found to be an independent risk factor after adjusting for other habits.
Takeaway
Chewing tobacco and drinking alcohol can make you much more likely to get a type of mouth cancer called gingival cancer.
Methodology
A case-control study involving 187 cases of gingival cancer and 895 hospital-based controls, with data collected through interviews about habits.
Potential Biases
There is no evidence of bias in data collection as interviewers were unaware of the patients' malignancies.
Limitations
The study may have underreported alcohol use due to social stigma, and the small number of subjects using snuff limits the findings.
Participant Demographics
The study included 109 males and 78 females with gingival cancer, and controls were matched from hospital patients with other conditions.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.001
Confidence Interval
(2.99, 11.84)
Statistical Significance
p<0.001
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