Oral cancer examinations among U.S. Hispanics in 1998.
BACKGROUND
An oral cancer examination (OCE) is crucial for early detection of oral and pharyngeal cancers. The objectives of this study were: 1) to estimate the percentages of Hispanics and Hispanic subgroups who reported having an OCE in the past 12 months; 2) to compare these groups with various Non-Hispanics; and 3) to evaluate the extents to which having an OCE might be explained by age, gender, education, family income, a recent visit to a dentist, and edentulism.


METHODS
Descriptive and logistic regression analyses using data from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey.


RESULTS
6.4% of Hispanics and 14.5% of non-Hispanics had had an OCE in the past 12 months. After adjusting for age, gender, education, income, a dental visit, and edentulism, Hispanics were 1.7 times less likely than non-Hispanics to have had an OCE in the past 12 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Fewer Hispanics are receiving OCEs relative to Non-Hispanics.
Canto
Maria T
MT
Division of Health Promotion and Population Sciences, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, U.S. DHHS, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-6402, USA. maria.canto@nih.gov
Drury
Thomas F
TF
Horowitz
Alice M
AM
D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology