Merva SOLUK TEKKEŞİN, Özkan ÇELİK, Işık İrem İNCEOĞLU, Dila Duygu SAC

The Effects of Educational Levels on the Knowledge of Risk Factors and Awareness of Oral Cancer in a Turkish Population: A Cross-sectional Electronic Media Based Survey Study

OBJECTIVE The aim of this survey study was to evaluate the effects of educational levels on knowledge about the symptoms and risk factors and the awareness of the oral cancer in a Turkish population. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, a 17-item close-ended questionnaire was prepared that required 3-5 min to complete. The questions were prepared electronically through Survey Monkey, distributed by social media and the participants gave their answers on their electronic devices. Descriptive statistics of demographic variables and other data were reported as percentages and statistical analyses were performed using the Chi-square test. RESULTS A total of 3246 people participated in the survey. About 64% of the respondents stated that they had previously heard of “oral cancer.” A statistically significant difference was determined in the awareness and knowledge of oral cancer concerning educational levels of participants (

PDF

___

1. WHO. All cancer fact sheet; 2020. Available at: https:// gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/cancers/39-Allcancers- fact-sheet.pdf. Accessed May 3, 2021.
2. WHO. Turkey fact sheet; 2020. Available at: https:// www.gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/ 792-turkey-fact-sheets.pdf. Accessed May 3, 2021.
3. WHO. Oral cancer; 2019. Available at: https://www. who.int/cancer/prevention/diagnosis-screening/oralcancer/ en. Accessed May 3, 2021.
4. WHO. A digital manual for the early diagnosis of oral neoplasia; 2019. Available at: https://screening.iarc.fr/ atlasoral.php. Accessed May 3, 2021.
5. Petti S. Lifestyle risk factors for oral cancer. Oral Oncol 2009;45(4–5):340–50.
6. Rodriguez T, Altieri A, Chatenoud L, Gallus S, Bosetti C, Negri E, et al. Risk factors for oral and pharyngeal cancer in young adults. Oral Oncol 2004;40(2):207– 13.
7. Blot WJ, McLaughlin JK, Winn DM, Austin DF, Greenberg RS, Preston-Martin S, et al. Smoking and drinking in relation to oral and pharyngeal cancer. Cancer Res 1988;48(11):3282–7.
8. Bajracharya D, Gupta S, Sapkota M, Bhatta S. Oral cancer knowledge and awareness in patients visiting Kantipur Dental College. J Nepal Health Res Counc 2017;15(3):247–51.
9. Posorski E, Boyd L, Giblin LJ, Welch L. Oral cancer awareness among community-dwelling senior citizens in Illinois. J Community Health 2014;39(6):1109–16.
10. Tadbir AA, Ebrahimi H, Pourshahidi S, Zeraatkar M. Evaluation of levels of knowledge about etiology and symptoms of oral cancer in Southern Iran. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2013;14(4):2217–20.
11. Reddy BS, Doshi D, Reddy MP, Kulkarni S, Gaffar A, Reddy VR. Oral cancer awareness and knowledge among dental patients in South India. J Craniomaxillofac Surg 2012;40(6):521–4.
12. Elango JK, Sundaram KR, Gangadharan P, Subhas P, Peter S, Pulayath C, et al. Factors affecting oral cancer awareness in a high-risk population in India. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2009;10(4):627–30.
13. Agrawal M, Pandey S, Jain S, Maitin S. Oral cancer awareness of the general public in Gorakhpur city, India. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2012;13(10):5195–9.
14. Al-Maweri SA, Addas A, Tarakji B, Abbas A, Al- Shamiri HM, Alaizari NA, et al. Public awareness and knowledge of oral cancer in Yemen. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2015;15(24):10861–5.
15. Al-Maweri SA, Tarakji B, Alsalhani AB, Al-Shamiri HM, Alaizari NA, Altamimi MA, et al. Oral cancer awareness of the general public in Saudi Arabia. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2015;16(8):3377–81.
16. Peker I, Alkurt MT. Public awareness level of oral cancer in a group of dental patients. J Contemp Dent Pract 2010;11(2):49–56.
17. Montero PH, Patel SG. Cancer of the oral cavity. Surg Oncol Clin 2015;24(3):491–508.
18. Seoane J, Alvarez-Novoa P, Gomez I, Takkouche B, Diz P, Warnakulasiruya S, et al. Early oral cancer diagnosis: The Aarhus statement perspective. A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Head Neck 2016;38 Suppl 1:E2182–9.
19. Misirlioglu M, Nalcaci R, Yardimci SY, Adisen MZ. Oral cancer knowledge among Turkish dental patients. Clin Cancer Investig J 2013;2(2):149.
20. West R, Alkhatib M, McNeill A, Bedi R. Awareness of mouth cancer in Great Britain. Br Dent J 2006;200(3):167–9.
21. Awojobi O, Scott SE, Newton T. Patients’ perceptions of oral cancer screening in dental practice: A crosssectional study. BMC Oral Health 2012;12(1):55.
22. Hassona Y, Scully C, Ghosh MA, Khoury Z, Jarrar S, Sawair F. Mouth cancer awareness and beliefs among dental patients. Int Dent J 2015;65(1):15–21.
23. Razavi SM, Tahani B, Nouri S, Khazaei A. Oral cancer knowledge and practice among dental patients and their attitude towards tobacco cessation in Iran. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev 2015;16(13):5439–44.
24. Monteiro LS, Warnakulasuriya S, Cadilhe S, Sousa D, Trancoso PF, Antunes L, et al. Oral cancer awareness and knowledge among residents in the Oporto city, Portugal. J Investig Clin Dent 2016;7(3):294–303.
25. Babiker TM, Osman KA, Mohamed SA, Mohamed MA, Almahdi HM. Oral cancer awareness among dental patients in Omdurman, Sudan: A cross-sectional study. BMC Oral Health 2017;17(1):1–9.
26. Al-Maweri SA, Al-Soneidar WA, Dhaifullah E, Halboub ES, Tarakji B. Oral cancer: Awareness and knowledge among dental patients in Riyadh. J Cancer Educ 2017;32(2):308–13.
27. Singh K, Sharma D, Kaur M, Gauba K, Thakur JS, Kumar R. Effect of health education on awareness about oral cancer and oral self-examination. J Educ Health Promot 2017;6:27.
28. Varela‐Centelles P, Estany‐Gestal A, Bugarín‐González R, Seoane‐Romero JM. Oral cancer awareness in Spain: A pilot study. Oral Dis 2018;24(1–2):124–7.
29. Messadi DV, Wilder-Smith P, Wolinsky L. Improving oral cancer survival: The role of dental providers. J Calif Dent Assoc 2009;37(11):789–98.
30. Cesur Aydın K, Akbulut A. Oral cancer awareness in Turkish dental patients. Anatol J Fam 2020;3(1):64–70.
31. Silverman S, Kerr AR, Epstein JB. Oral and pharyngeal cancer control and early detection. J Cancer Educ 2010;25(3):279–81.
32. Castellsagué X, Alemany L, Quer M, Halec G, Quirós B, Tous S, et al. HPV involvement in head and neck cancers: Comprehensive assessment of biomarkers in 3680 patients. J Natl Cancer Inst 2016;108(6):djv403.
33. de Martel C, Plummer M, Vignat J, Franceschi S. Worldwide burden of cancer attributable to HPV by site, country and HPV type. Int J Cancer 2017;141(4):664–70.
34. Candotto V, Lauritano D, Nardone M, Baggi L, Arcuri C, Gatto R, et al. HPV infection in the oral cavity: Epidemiology, clinical manifestations and relationship with oral cancer. Oral Implantol (Rome) 2017;10(3):209–29.
35. Stelow EB, Bishop JA. Update from the 4th Edition of the World Health Organization classification of head and neck tumours: Tumors of the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and skull base. Head Neck Pathol 2017;11(1):3–15.
36. Akbulut N, Oztas B, Kursun S, Evirgen S. Delayed diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma: A case series. J Med Case Rep 2011;5(1):291.
37. Petti S, Scully C. Oral cancer knowledge and awareness: Primary and secondary effects of an information leaflet. Oral Oncol 2007;43(4):408–15.
38. Kelwaip RA, Fose S, Siddiqui M, Molumi CP, Apaio K, Conway DI, et al. Oral cancer in papua new guinea: Looking back and looking forward. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2020;130(3):292–7.