Clinico-Pathophysiological Determinants of Health Among Oral Cancer Patients in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Pakistan

Objective:To identify clinico-pathophysiological predictors of well-being of oral cancer patients compared in the tertiary care institutions in Pakistan.Study Design:Cross-sectional studySetting: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery Jinnah Hospital Karachi, Bolan hospital Quetta and Turbat Hospital Pakistan from Oct 2021 to Nov 2022.Methodology:Two hundred and seventy-six confirmed cases of oral cancer were recruited in the study and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors were recorded. The mode of clinical presentation at the time of the oral cancer diagnosis was also documented. Results The mean age of the patients was (48.59±14.28) years. The majority of them were males 216 (78.3%) among 276 cases and most of them were of poor socio-economic status 244 (88.4%). Well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma was present in 156(56.5%) patients, moderately differentiated in 118(42.8%) and poorly differentiated oral cancer was found in 2(0.7%) patients only. Oral cancer was found to be the most prevalent among subjects of low socioeconomic status and well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma was the predominant type. Male sex, smokeless tobacco in the form of chewing and areca nut were also described as risk factors of oral cancer.Conclusion:Males and low SES people had the highest oral cancer rates, as noted in this study. The majority of cases were well-differentiated carcinoma and reported a history of present and past use of tobacco, alcohol, and betel nut. The most frequent malignancy of the oral cavity was squamous cell carcinoma. There is a need for mass campaigns focusing on the importance of lifestyle practices and risk factors for oral cancer and the need for early help-seeking among the people, particularly low SES.