title: Low prevalence of oral leukoplakia in a representative sample of the US population.
abstract: Recent studies reported a tendency towards a lower prevalence of oral leukoplakia (OL), compared with the past. To assess the prevalence of OL in a representative sample of the US population, data from the oral mucosal tissue assessment and some other covariates of 16128 participants in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were included. The clinical definition of OL was applied according to the WHO criteria. The weighted prevalence estimates of OL were 0.66+/-0.14% in males, 0.21+/-0.05% in females and 0.42+/-0.08% in total. The age peaks were at 40-49 years in males and at >or=70 years in females. The prevalence estimates were 0.37% for homogeneous OL and 0.06% for non-homogeneous OL. Gingiva (38.8%) and buccal mucosa (30.9%) were the most frequent locations. Compared to previous studies in the USA, a substantial decline of the prevalence of OL was shown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery and Dental Radiology, Campus Virchow, Medical Faculty Charité, Humboldt University, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany. christian.scheifele@charite.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheifele
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Reichart
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dietrich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002610:Cheek; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology