Incidence rates of oral cancer and oral pre‐cancercous lesions in a 6‐year follow‐up study of a Taiwanese aboriginal community

Abstract

Background: In a previous article, we reported the prevalence rates of oral mucosal lesions in an aboriginal community from an epidemiological survey of oral pre‐cancerous lesions. Methods: Since 1997, the authors have started regular follow‐up of the study population originally investigated. Thus, it has been possible to obtain incidence rates for the various oral pre‐cancerous lesions and conditions. Results: There were 194 persons without any oral lesion in the 1997 screening. During the clinical follow‐up investigation and during the analysis of biopsies from pre‐cancerous lesions, we discovered six new lesions (including cancer and pre‐cancerous lesions) from five participants. All of the five persons were areca/betel quid chewers, and only one mixed areca/betel quid chewing with cigarette smoking habit. The age‐standardized incidence rates for quid lesion, oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were 267.0, 374.1 and 146.2 per 100 000 person‐years, respectively, for areca/betel quid chewers. Conclusions: As compared with the rates from India and the general Taiwanese population, the study community encountered a serious problem of oral lesions.