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Disparities in Oral Cancer Awareness: a Population Survey in Tehran, Iran

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Abstract

Oral cancer is a life-threatening disease with low survival rates, especially when diagnosed in an advanced stage. Lack of awareness about this cancer among the population is proposed as a possible reason for this diagnostic delay. The aim of this study was to evaluate oral cancer awareness, as well as the association of this with sociodemographic status in Tehran. In this cross-sectional population-based survey, 1800 self-administered questionnaires (collecting sociodemographic data, questions regarding oral cancer awareness and the source of information) were distributed through multistage stratified random sampling. Scores for questions ranged from 0 to 4, and totals were summed. The outcome of question responses was also analyzed separately. In total, 1312 questionnaires were available for analysis, from 788 females and 489 males (37.8 ± 9.02 years). Only 30% of the respondents were aware of oral cancer. The average score for awareness was 1.09 ± 1.6 with no significant differences between age groups and genders. Almost 6.5% of participants had complete awareness about oral cancer. A significant difference was found between mean scores in different levels of education and occupation (p = 0.0001). From 585 responses to the “source of information” question, “public media” was the most important source (almost 50%). Only 2% mentioned “dentists” as a source of information. This study indicated an alarming lack of oral cancer awareness and literacy in Tehran, Iran. Dentists should be obliged to practice their pivotal role in informing the public about oral cancer.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Azimi acknowledges the Australian Government support through an “Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship” from the University of Western Australia.

Funding

This project was supported by the Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Research Collaborative – Oral Health and Equity, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    Somayyeh Azimi, Marc Tennant & Estie Kruger

  2. Community Oral Health Department, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Zahra Ghorbani

  3. Department of Biostatistics, School of Paramedical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Erfan Ghasemi

Authors
  1. Somayyeh Azimi
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  2. Zahra Ghorbani
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  3. Erfan Ghasemi
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  4. Marc Tennant
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  5. Estie Kruger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zahra Ghorbani.

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The research project was approved by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ethics Committee.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Azimi, S., Ghorbani, Z., Ghasemi, E. et al. Disparities in Oral Cancer Awareness: a Population Survey in Tehran, Iran. J Canc Educ 34, 535–541 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-018-1337-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-018-1337-5

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