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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer 2022; 11(01): 046-051
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1740601
Original Article
Head and Neck Cancer

A Study of Head and Neck Cancer Patients with Reference to Tobacco Use, Gender, and Subsite Distribution

Richa Chauhan
1   Department of Radiotherapy, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, Bihar, India
,
Vinita Trivedi
1   Department of Radiotherapy, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, Bihar, India
,
Rita Rani
1   Department of Radiotherapy, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, Bihar, India
,
Usha Singh
1   Department of Radiotherapy, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, Bihar, India
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Abstract

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Richa Chauhan

Context Head and neck cancer (HNC) is very common in India, constituting 30% of all the cancers because of the widespread use of tobacco across India. The prevalence and pattern of tobacco use vary in different regions and states of the country. Although predominantly seen in males, studies have reported that the male-to-female ratio varies worldwide and also by anatomical subsite.

Aims This study was done with an aim to determine the difference in pattern and prevalence of tobacco use in male and female patients with HNCs and compare them with different subsites' involvement in our region.

Methods and Materials This is a retrospective analysis of 500 consecutive biopsy-proven HNC patients from a large comprehensive cancer hospital from Bihar during the period of January 2019 to June 2019. Data collected for the study included age, gender, site of the disease, and use of tobacco. The categorical data were analyzed by a chi-square test using SPSS (version 16).

Results Our study showed a male-to-female ratio of 8.43:1 with tobacco addiction in 84.40% patients. Smokeless tobacco was used by 52.20%, combustible form by 12.80%, and both by 19.40% of the patients. Tobacco use was seen in 87.25% of male patients as compared with only 60.38% of female patients (p-value = 0.0001). Oral cavity cancer was seen in 60.85% of male patients and 37.74% of female patients (p-value = 0.0012), whereas oropharyngeal cancer was seen in only 11.63% of male patients as compared with 25.83% of female patients (p-value = 0.0008). The subsite analysis showed that in patients with oral cavity cancers, no addiction was found in only 10.29% of male patients as compared with 30% of the female patients (p-value = 0.008).

Conclusions Our study confirms a high prevalence of tobacco use among HNC patients. So, we need to continue our efforts to create awareness against tobacco use. Besides, there is also a need for more studies to look into other etiological factors among nontobacco users.

Keywords

tobacco - male - female - oral cavity - oropharynx

Source(s) of Support

Nil.




Publication History

Article published online:
02 February 2022

© 2022. MedIntel Services Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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