Prevalence and Risk factors of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders in Prisoners Aged 40 Years and Over of Saraburi Province

Abstract

 Oral cancer is a concerning health issue with increasing occurrences in Thailand. According to statistics of patients in Thailand during 2018-2020 from the National Cancer Institute, the number of new oral cancer cases was the fifth greatest in male and seventh greatest in female amongst all types of cancer. Moreover, most patients were unfortunately diagnosed in the metastatic stage. This resulted in more complicated treatment and a high mortality rate. Early screening tests for oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) are crucial for increasing the chance of survival and reducing treatment costs. The dental department of Saraburi hospital, therefore, established a project named “CA oral screening” in coordination with Saraburi provincial prison to screen test a total of 703 prisoners, aged 40 years and above, from 1 April to 30 August 2023. Risk factors were interviewed and the correlation to occurrence of OPMDs was statistically analyzed by Fisher’s exact test. Results showed that the prevalence of OPMDs in prisoners was 1.3% which was 4.5% in females and 0.7% in males. The participants aged between 50-59 years had the most prevalence of OPMDs of 1.7%. From study of correlation between risk factors and occurrences of OPMDs, two significant factors were female gender (OR=7.01; 95% Cl: 1.85-26.54, p=0.004) and family history of cancer (OR=7.69, 95% Cl:1.89-30.92, p=0.004)