PREVALENCE OF ORAL CANCER IN PERSONS WITH ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ITS CORRELATION WITH SERUM AMINOTRANSFERASE LEVELS – A CASE CONTROL STUDY

Background: Alcohol abuse is a major risk factor for various types of cancer, but strongest associations have been found for oral and pharyngeal cancers. Although the influence of alcohol on liver function has been extensively studied, studies correlating the liver function tests with prevalence of oral cancer are limited. Aims and Objectives: The aim of our study was to assess the effect of alcohol in clinicopathogenesis of oral cancer, to test its synergism with tobacco use and to correlate this with serum aminotransferase levels. Materials and Methods: A total of fifty patients with tobacco habit were equally divided into two groups: alcoholics with tobacco habit as cases (Group I) and non – alcoholics with tobacco habit as controls (Group II). A thorough intraoral examination was performed and histopathological grading for confirmation of oral cancer was done. Serum aminotransferases levels were assessed for all patients and the obtained results were analyzed statistically. Results: Oral cancer was present in 84% of cases and 80% of controls and the result was not found to be statistically significant. Also, the relationship between levels of serum aminotransferases and occurrence of oral cancer in alcoholic patients was found to be statistically insignificant. Conclusion: The combined deleterious habit of tobacco and alcohol increases the risk of oral cancer. The difference in prevalence of oral cancer in patients with and without alcohol habit was not found to be statistically significant. However, no correlation has been found between serum aminotransferase levels and prevalence of oral cancer in persons with alcohol abuse.