Prevalence of oral precancerous and cancerous lesions in elderly Malaysians.
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.
Ali
T B
TB
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Jalalluddin
R L
RL
Abdul Razak
I
I
Zain
R B
RB
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009909:Oral Health; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires