Oakley Eric, Demaine L, Warnakulasuriya Saman
Saipan Seventh-Day Adventist Clinic, Saipan.
Bull World Health Organ. 2005 Sep;83(9):656-60. Epub 2005 Sep 30.
To investigate the prevalence of its use by high-school children in Saipan in Micronesia. Usage of the areca nut is indigenous to south Asia and the western and south Pacific. Some serious health effects of areca nut chewing are recognized and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has recently classified regular use of areca nut as being carcinogenic to humans. Information on usage by young people, however, is scarce.
Data on consumption of areca nut were obtained by a self-administered questionnaire. Following an oral mucosal examination using WHO criteria any detectable oral mucosal diseases were recorded.
Of 309 schoolchildren surveyed (mean age 16.3 +/- 1.5 years), 63.4% claimed regular use, the highest level recorded in any school population survey. Significant oral diseases detected were oral leukoplakia in 13% and oral submucous fibrosis in 8.8% of children.
These findings from Saipan suggest that areca nut chewing starts at a young age in Micronesia. As many users develop dependency this raises important concerns regarding its consequences for oral health.
调查密克罗尼西亚塞班岛高中生使用槟榔的情况。嚼食槟榔的习惯起源于南亚以及西太平洋和南太平洋地区。人们已经认识到嚼食槟榔会对健康造成一些严重影响，国际癌症研究机构最近将经常嚼食槟榔归类为对人类有致癌性。然而，关于年轻人使用槟榔的信息却很少。
通过自填问卷获取槟榔消费数据。按照世界卫生组织标准进行口腔黏膜检查后，记录任何可检测到的口腔黏膜疾病。
在接受调查的309名学童（平均年龄16.3±1.5岁）中，63.4%的人声称经常嚼食槟榔，这是在任何学校人群调查中记录到的最高比例。检测到的明显口腔疾病包括13%的儿童患有口腔白斑病，8.8%的儿童患有口腔黏膜下纤维化。
塞班岛的这些研究结果表明，在密克罗尼西亚，嚼食槟榔始于年轻时。由于许多使用者会产生依赖性，这引发了对其对口腔健康影响的重要担忧。
