Patients' characteristics of oral / skin cancer early detection programs

Objective: Life style and habits are considered as central factors in the etiology of both oral and skin cancer. In both diseases early detection may be achieved by simple clinical examination. Thus an educational campaign on the effects of life style and habits on skin and oral cancer risk may alter behavior and as a consequence the prevalence of the disease. In Israel a campaign concerning skin malignancy has been conducted in the electronic media for the past 14 years whereas an identical campaign concerning oral cancer has never been done. Study objectives: To compare the patient profile between participants in an oral cancer screening program and in a skin cancer screening program in Israel. Methods: Included were patients who were examined in 2 national 1 week programs of early detection of oral or skin cancer. The information for the public was published in the newspapers. Clinical examinations were conducted by oral medicine (OM) / dermatology (DER) specialists at the OM department in the hospital or at peripheral clinics respectively. The examinations were open to all the public and no fee was charged. Results: 96 subjects were examined (45 OM, 51 DER). The mean age of patients attending the OM exam was significantly higher than in the DER group(OM=57.5+1.8y, DER=41.2+2.8, P<0.0001). Male to female ratio, prevalence of relevant risk habits (smoking, alcohol or sun exposure) previous malignant diseases, systemic disease or over 5 medications /person and the presence of premalignant lesions at examination.(18%, 23%) were not significantly different between the groups. Conclusions: Subjects with high risk habits do not attend programs for early detection in spite of an intensive promotional campaign. The fact that older patients attended the OM screening may indicate that awareness of age related malignancy is higher than awareness to risk habits.