Association Between Tobacco Use And Histopathological Severity Of Oral Leukoplakia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Oral leukoplakia is the most common oral potentially malignant disorder, and tobacco use is accepted as the main etiological factor. In many developing countries, the relationship between various patterns of tobacco consumption and the severity of the disease is still poorly understood.

Objective: To determine the association between tobacco use and the histopathological severity of oral leukoplakia.

Materials and Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out at Oral Pathology, Saidu College of Dentistry, Swat for 6 months. A total of 85 patients with histopathologically confirmed oral leukoplakia were recruited using non-probability consecutive sampling. A structured proforma was used to record the demographic characteristics, tobacco use history, and histopathological findings. IBM SPSS 26.0 was used to analyze the data. Association was determined by the chi-square test, and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The average age of participants was 46.8 ± 11.7 years, with 68.2% being male. The most common histopathological diagnosis was mild epithelial dysplasia (36.5%). A significant association was found between the type of tobacco use and the histopathological severity (p = 0.018). Also, duration of tobacco use was significantly associated with histopathological severity (p < 0.001), with moderate and severe dysplasia seen more frequently with tobacco use over 10 years.

Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between smoking and the histopathological severity of oral leukoplakia, especially when taken with tobacco over long periods. The risk of malignant transformation can be reduced with early diagnosis, histopathological evaluation, and successful tobacco cessation interventions.