Epidemiological Study of Risk Factors for Oral, Laryngeal and Esophageal Cancers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India

Background and Ais: An epidemiological shift in the form of increase in the incidence of cancer and decreasein the incidence of smoking is universally realized today. This study was conducted to observe an association ofsmoking, use of alcohol & tobacco and cancers of the oral cavity, larynx and esophagus Material and
Methods: itwas a case control study conducted at Deptt. of Radiotherapy at GMCH, Chandigarh. The registers from radiologydepartment were utilized and studied for the presence of history of alcohol consumption, smoking and tobaccointake. Statistical analysis was done by calculating Odds ratio along with 95% confidence interval.
Results: Outof 363 cases with the diagnosis of Laryngeal, Esophageal and Oral Cancer along with 568 controls studied, 42(11.6%) were in the age group of 30-44 years, 153 (42.1%) in the age group of 45-59 years and rest 171 (47.1%)in the age group of 60+ years. Among cases, the percentage of tobacco use, smoking and alcohol consumptionwas 10.5, 60.6 and 33.6 respectively as against the similar percentages among controls 1.4, 9.0 and 6.3. The oddsratio for tobacco use in relation to patients aged 60+ years was 2.39, in the age group of 45-59 years was 11.19and increased to 55.35 in the age group 30-44 years. Similarly the overall odds ratio for alcohol consumptionwas 7.48 and it was 4.98 in the age group 60+ years, 6.30 in the age group 45-59 years and increasing to 17.00in the age group of 30-44 years.
Conclusion: Finding suggests that risk of cancer of the upper respiratory andalimentary tracts is higher with tobacco and alcohol use. Further studies are required.