Prevalence of oral lesions among a sample of Bangladeshi medical users aged 40 years and over living in Tower Hamlets, UK

Aim: To collect data on the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions among Bangla deshi medical care users aged 40 years and over and to explore the relation ship of oral disease status and tobacco smoking and paan (betel quid) chewi ng. Design: Multi-centre cross-sectional study. Setting: General medical pr actitioners' waiting areas in Tower Hamlets, UK. Subjects: 185 Bangladeshi adults aged 40 years old and over. Method: An oral mucosal examination, bas ed on WHO criteria and an interview. Information on tobacco smoking and paa n chewing behaviour was collected during the interview. Results: Out of 185 adults there was a response rate of 74%. Oral mucosal lesions were observe d in 40% of participants. The most common lesion was found to be leukoplaki a with a prevalence of 25%. Significant relationships were found between sm oking and the presence of oral pathology and between paan chewing with toba cco and the presence of leukoplakia. Conclusion: In this study of older Ban gladeshi medical care users there was a high prevalence of oral mucosal les ions. Sensitively tailored health promotion interventions, which aim to red uce tobacco use, should be developed for this population..