A page from the OpenDepot.org service

Zain, R. B. and Ali, T. B. and Jalalluddin, R. L. and Razak, I. A. (1996) Prevalence of oral precancerous and cancerous lesions in elderly Malaysians. Asia-Pacific journal of public health / Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health, 9. pp. 24-27. ISSN 1368-8375

PDF Download (65Kb)

Abstract

A house to house survey on elderly subjects aged 60 years old and above was undertaken in a large district in Malaysia. A total of 486 subjects in randomly selected Enumeration Blocks were interviewed and examined. The prevalence of oral precancerous lesions was recorded at 3.3%, of which leukoplakia was the most common. When the ethnic distribution of these oral precancerous and cancerous (OPC) lesions was compared, 72% of those inflicted were Indians. Oral cancer was detected in two subjects (0.4%), both of whom were of Indian origin. Among subjects with OPC lesions, 4.2% were smokers, 12.7% were betelquid chewers, 11.8% had indulged in both habits, whilst one subject had not practised any of the oral habits of interest (0.4%). The findings suggest the occurrence of OPC lesions to be related to betelquid chewing.

Actions (login required)