BURDEN OF ORAL CANCERS – A RETROSPECTIVE APPROACH TO DETERMINE THE INCIDENCES

Globally oral cancers/head and neck cancers are serious and growing issue, similarly, incidences of oral cancers are increasing in Karachi, Pakistan. Objective of current study was to evaluate the current profile of oral cancers in Karachi, Pakistan because since 2002 no update has been reported and to determine the common risk factors for the disease. The study has been conducted in Karachi, Pakistan and data has been collected from six state of the art hospitals for the duration of eight years. Oral cancers are classified as per NIH (National Institute of Health), USA classification system. 650 cases of oral cancers recorded among which analysis was done over 607, rest were excluded because did not match the inclusion criteria of study. Descriptive statistics applied and pearson correlation coefficient determined for the trends years wise. Highest proportion of oral cancers reported in immigrant male, sindhi male and female. Mean age of diagnosis of any oral cancer among all ethnic group pooled was male 46.24 years, SD± 13.80, SE± 0.451 and Co-efficient of variance 30%, female mean age of diagnosis is 46.10 years, SD± 13.00, SE± 0.664 and Co-efficient of variance 28%. In total number of cases, higher proportions reported for cancers in male gender are cheek, tongue, lip, mouth, oral and tonsils, while proportion in female gender was higher for palate cancer. Correlation analysis determined the association of number of cancers year wise in male gender, the trend line shows pearson correlation coefficient (r) =0.5545 (p=0.077 one tailed, p=0.154 two tailed), similarly for female gender r=0.372 (p=0.182 one tailed, p=0.364 two tailed), which shows non-significance.