title: Leukoplakia--an epidemiologic study of 1504 cases observed at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay, India.
abstract: An epidemiological study of 1504 cases of leukoplakia seen at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay, indicates that the oral cavity was the site of the disease in 95% of the cases. The buccal mucosa was the commonest site affected in all religious communities of Western India except among Parsis. Parsis, a majority of whom are non-smokers and non-chewers of tobacco, had leukoplakia more often on the anterior 2/3rd tongue than on the buccal mucosa and this pattern persisted in the distribution of cancer also, whereas people from Gujarat more often smoke; in these the buccal mucosa was commonly affected with leukoplakia, but cancer was not so frequent in this site. Statistical computation of the risk of malignant transformation indicates that males have a 4·8 times higher risk of developing cancer when they have leukoplakia than the normal population, and the females have 7 times higher risk of developing cancer in the presence of leukoplakia. It was felt that leukoplakia not associated with smoking habits had a greater chance of malignant transformation.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002610:Cheek; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007971:Leukoplakia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012067:Religion; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D014026:Nicotiana; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology