Knowledge of Oral Cancer Amongst Dental Patients Attending Public Clinics in South East Queensland, Australia
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Knowledge of Oral Cancer Amongst Dental Patients Attending Public Clinics in South East Queensland, Australia Li-chen Yang 1
&
Alan Yang 1 & Lin Na Chen 1 & Norman Firth 1 & Soorebettu Ramananda Prabhu 1 & Jessica Zachar 1
Accepted: 11 October 2020 # American Association for Cancer Education 2020
Abstract Patient knowledge of risk factors, signs and symptoms associated with oral cancers is crucial for increasing the likelihood of patient presentation for opportunistic screening and reducing delay in patient appraisal for early detection. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of oral cancer and to ascertain socio-demographic factors that influence knowledge amongst adult dental patients attending public clinics in Brisbane, Australia. A convenience sample of 213 adult dental patients who attended the Herston and Stafford public health clinics in Brisbane, Australia, between July and August 2019 participated in the selfadministered questionnaire. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors for oral cancer knowledge. Patients were well informed of smoking as a risk factor (n = 135; 84.4%), whereas only 53.8% (n = 82) of participants agreed that heavy alcohol consumption was a risk factor. A larger proportion of participants identified difficulty of moving the tongue (n = 79; 49.4%) and pain on swallowing (n = 72; 45.0%) compared to the proportion who identified fixed red patches (n = 61; 38.1%) and fixed white patches (n = 57; 35.6%) as a sign or symptom. Education level and gender were significant knowledge predictors for alcohol (p = 0.01), old age (p = 0.008) and family history (p = 0.004) as a risk factors for oral cancer. Those with a family history of cancer were more likely to identify a red patch (p = 0.02), bleeding gums (p = 0.001) and altered sensation (p = 0.023) as a sign or symptom of oral cancer. Overall, patient knowledge was greater for risk factors than for signs and symptoms for oral cancer. Symptoms associated with later stages of cancer were recognised by a greater proportion of patients compared to early stages of oral cancer. These results indicate the need for targeted public health initiatives to improve patient knowledge. Keywords Dental patients . Knowledge . Oral cancer . Risk factors . Smoking . Alcohol
Introduction Cancers of the oral cavity and oropharynx collectively constitute the sixth most common cancer worldwide [1]. Globally, oral cancers (OC) account for 3.8% of all new cancer cases [2]. Significant geographical variations in incidence exist, with higher incidence rates reported in South East Asia, especially India [1]. In Australia, the incidence for oral cavity cancers is declining but remains high on a global scale [3], while a steady increase in oropharyngeal cancer incidence is consistent with the global trend [1]. Risk factors that are well established in the literature include synergistic effects of tobacco use and heavy alcohol consumption and being aged
* Li-chen Yang [email protected] 1
School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, B
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