A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF ORAL-CANCER IN CHANGHUA COUNTY, TAIWAN

Forty oral cancer patients identified consecutively in Changhua Christ ian Hospital between 1990 and 1992 were compared with 160 population-b ased controls, matched for sex, age, area of residence, and educationa l background. Betel quid chewing was positively associated with the ri sk of oral cancer with an adjusted odds ratio of 58.4 (95% CI: 7.6-447 .6). The greater the number of years of chewing betel quid, the higher the risk of oral cancer; the adjusted odds rations were 12.9, 93.7 an d 397.5 for <21, 21-40, and >40 years of betel chewing as compared wit h the non-users. The risk also increased with the quantity chewed per day; the odds ratios for those chewing <10, 10-20 and >20 quids/day we re 26.4, 51.2 and 275.6, respectively. These odds ratio estimates were all statistically significantly different from the null value of unit y.