Prevalence of oral soft tissue lesions among tobacco addicts and their quality of life: An empirical study in Cuttack of Odisha

Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of premature death and disease. Worldwide, the tobacco epidemic kills 5.4 million people annually out of lungs cancer, heart disease and other allied illness. The tobacco toll by 2030 would be 10 million deaths annually amounting to 1 billion lives in this century. More than 80% of the world’s tobacco related deaths will be in low and middle income countries. It is a risk factor 6 of the 8 leading causes of death globally.

In India, deaths attributable to tobacco are speculated to rise from 1.4% of all deaths in 1990 to 13.5% in 2020. Each year 89 lakhs Indians and each day more than 2500 Indians die due to tobacco use. India has the highest number of tobaccorelated oral cancer cases compared to all other countries or regions in the world. 40% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco use. Out of 1000 teenager smokers today, 500 will eventually die out of tobaccorelated disease and 250 in their middle age and 250 in their old age. Those who die earlier, lose on an average about 22 to 26 years of life compared to nonsmokers. Even those who die later suffer illhealth due to tobaccorelated disease in the middle age.

This addiction directly affects addict’s quality of life including social, economical, behavioral and environmental aspect. Thus it directly inflicts various impacts on one’s personality and inherits with ails the quality of life as a whole.