Prevalence of smokeless tobacco habits among oral cancer patients attending Karnataka cancer treatment and research institute, hubli, Karnataka, India a retrospective hospital based study

To assess the prevalence of smokeless tobacco habits among Oral cancer patients attending Karnataka Cancer Treatment and Research Institute (KCTRI), Hubli, Karnataka, India.

A Retrospective Hospital based study was undertaken on records of 991 patients with oral cancer who attended Karnataka Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Hubli. Necessary information about patients was collected from their hospital records using a Proforma which included demographic profile, type, duration and frequency of tobacco habit, family and systemic history, type, site, grade and stage of cancer. Data was analyzed using statistical software SPSS version10. Significance was determined using Chisquare test.

Out of 991 oral cancer patients, 748 (75.5%) had habits, which was statistically significant (p<0.001). Out of the 748 patients with habits, 605 (80.9%) used smokeless tobacco. Among 605 patients with smokeless tobacco habits, 376 (62.1%) used tobacco powder.

The result of the present study shows that, tobacco especially in the chewing form could be an important risk factor for oral cancer. There is an urgent need to bring about awareness about the harmful effects of smokeless tobacco as much as smoking both among people and policy makers.