Pan masalahabits and risk of oral precancer: A cross-sectional survey in 0.45 million people of North India.
OBJECTIVE
This cross-sectional community based study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of consumption habits for non tobaccopan masala(ASU) and the risk of developing oral precancer in North India.


METHODS
This study was conducted in the old town of Lucknow city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Subjects residing for more than 6 months and aged 15 years or above, were enrolled in the study after their informed consent. A two page survey tool was used to collect the data. A three times more matched sample of non users was randomly obtained from this data to analyze and compare the final results.


RESULTS
0.45 million subjects were surveyed. Majority of tobacco users were in the age group of 20-35 years among males and 35-39 years among females. Consumption of non tobaccopan masalaamong males as well as females was most common in 15-19 years of age group. Prevalence of oral precancer (leukoplakia, submucous fibrosis, erythroplakia, lichen planus, smokers palate and verrucous hyperplasia) was 3.17% in non tobaccopan masalausers and 12.22% in tobacco users. The odds of developing oral precancer in non tobaccopan masalausers was 20.71 (18.79-22.82) and in tobacco users was 88.07 (84.02-92.31) at 95% confidence interval against non users of both.


CONCLUSIONS
The odds of developing oral precancer even with consumption ofpan masalais high, even when it is consumed without tobacco. It is hence recommended to discourage this habit.
Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, UP 226003, India.
Divya
D
Mehrotra
Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, UP 226003, India.
Sumit
S
Kumar
Department of Biostatistics, University of Lucknow, UP, India.
Shambhavi
S
Mishra
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), India.
Sandeep
S
Kumar
National Centre for Diseases Informatics & Research (NCRP), ICMR, India.
Prashant
P
Mathur
Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, SGPGIMS, Lucknow, India.
C M
CM
Pandey
National Institute of Medical Statistics, ICMR, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110 029, India.
Arvind
A
Pandey
Roseman University of Health Sciences, Henderson, NV, United States.
Kishore
K
Chaudhry
Odds ratio; Oral precancer; Pan masala; Potentially malignant disorder; Prevalence