Trends in frequency and duration of tobacco habit in relation to potentially malignant lesion: A 3 years retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Oral cancer is one of the most debilitating and disfiguring of all malignancies; it is one of the most frequently occurring cancers in the body. The high incidence of oral cancer in India has been attributed to widespread tobacco usage among the population either in chewable or smoked form. AIM: In the current study, we retrospectively analyzed 191 cases (2007-2009) of potentially malignant oral lesions, which had been biopsied in our hospital, in order to assess their relationship with tobacco usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on the histopathology, these lesions were classified as high-risk lesions (HRL), low-risk lesions, and questionable risk lesions. The data obtained were then analyzed to find out the correlation between the occurrence of risk level with various demographic parameters such as age and gender as well as with type, frequency, and duration of tobacco habit. RESULTS: Out of 191 cases, 122 patients reported with tobacco habit (chewers, smokers, and both) and frequency (<5 and >5 packets/day) were seen in 109 cases and duration (<5 and >5 years) seen in 99 cases. These parameters were correlated with histopathological diagnosis and results showed that both the groups came under the high-risk category. Further analysis of decategorized group (age and gender) was also done. CONCLUSION: Analysis showed that overall histopathologically diagnosed HRLs were seen more in males and smokers compared to female and chewers, respectively.