Bajracharya Dipshikha, Gupta Sujaya, Sapkota Manish, Bhatta Shishir
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Kantipur Dental College, Teaching Hospital and Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Department of Periodontics, Kantipur Dental College, Teaching Hospital and Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
J Nepal Health Res Counc. 2018 Jan 1;15(3):247-251. doi: 10.3126/jnhrc.v15i3.18849.
Lack of knowledge and awareness about oral cancer, its risk factors and negligence of the early warning signs play crucial role in raising the incidence of the disease. The present study was carried out to evaluate the awareness of oral cancer among patients visiting Kantipur Dental College, Kathmandu, Nepal.
The cross-sectional study was done in 471 patients from 15-85 years. Self administered questionnaire was prepared which comprised of knowledge of oral cancer, source of information, its early signs and symptoms along with the awareness of its risk factors.
Most of the participants (41.80%) had not heard of oral cancer. 31.60% recognized tobacco smoking and tobacco chewing as the chief risk factor with 15.50% and 10.80% of participants who identified white patch and red patch as early sign of oral cancer respectively. Pearson's chi square test was used which showed statistically significant association of total mean knowledge score and awareness score with age, education level and occupation (p<0.05).
This study done in dental patients showed lack of knowledge and awareness in general public about oral cancer. There seem to be a need for more planned awareness programs through newspapers, radio, television and health campaigns regarding the association of habits in the development of oral cancer and benefits of detecting oral cancer at early stage for better prognosis.
对口腔癌及其危险因素缺乏了解和认识，以及对早期预警信号的忽视，在该疾病发病率上升中起着关键作用。本研究旨在评估尼泊尔加德满都坎蒂普尔牙科学院就诊患者对口腔癌的认知情况。
对471名年龄在15至85岁的患者进行了横断面研究。编制了自填式问卷，内容包括口腔癌知识、信息来源、早期症状以及对其危险因素的认识。
大多数参与者（41.80%）从未听说过口腔癌。31.60%的人认为吸烟和嚼烟是主要危险因素，分别有15.50%和10.80%的参与者将白斑和红斑视为口腔癌的早期迹象。采用Pearson卡方检验，结果显示总平均知识得分和认知得分与年龄、教育水平和职业存在统计学上的显著关联（p<0.05）。
这项针对牙科患者的研究表明，普通公众对口腔癌缺乏了解和认识。似乎需要通过报纸、广播、电视和健康宣传活动开展更多有计划的宣传项目，以提高公众对口腔癌发病与习惯之间关联的认识，以及早期发现口腔癌对改善预后的益处的认识。
