Abstract
An epidemiological study of 1504 cases of leukoplakia seen at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay, indicates that the oral cavity was the site of the disease in 95% of the cases. The buccal mucosa was the commonest site affected in all religious communities of Western India except among Parsis. Parsis, a majority of whom are non-smokers and non-chewers of tobacco, had leukoplakia more often on the anterior 2/3rd tongue than on the buccal mucosa and this pattern persisted in the distribution of cancer also, whereas people from Gujarat more often smoke; in these the buccal mucosa was commonly affected with leukoplakia, but cancer was not so frequent in this site. Statistical computation of the risk of malignant transformation indicates that males have a 4·8 times higher risk of developing cancer when they have leukoplakia than the normal population, and the females have 7 times higher risk of developing cancer in the presence of leukoplakia. It was felt that leukoplakia not associated with smoking habits had a greater chance of malignant transformation.
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Gangadharan, P., Paymaster, J. Leukoplakia—An Epidemiologic Study of 1504 Cases Observed at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay, India. Br J Cancer 25, 657–668 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1971.81
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1971.81
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