New Delhi, Oct 12: A study conducted in over 100 patients of oral cancer — almost all from upper-lower or lower socioeconomic backgrounds — found that all were unaware of early symptoms of the condition, with a very low awareness of free government screenings.
Over 54 per cent of the participants, recruited from Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital during August 2023 to June 2024, used smokeless tobacco, 10.3 per cent were smoking, and 27.6 per cent were using both.
Most were found to consume tobacco daily, with 52.6 per cent quitting tobacco consumption following a diagnosis of oral cancer.
The study, by researchers from Maulana Azad Medical College in Delhi, is published in the journal ecancermedicalscience.
The authors wrote, “Totally, 116 adult patients with histopathologically confirmed ora