Sampling Survey Of Betel Nut Chewing And Oral Submucous Fibrosis Among Urban And Rural Residents In Xiangtan City, Hunan Province

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of betel nut chewing and oral submueous fibrosis(OSF) among people in Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, and to provide scientific evidence for primary prevention of OSF.MethodAccording to the standard of the third national oral health epidemiological investigation, samples were taken using stratified sampling. In the first stage the strata was base on the specific city and town. In the second stage the strata was based on the specific family in a street and a villlage, including 200 urban residents and 150 rural residents., among which only 342 questionnaires surveys were finished, and the finishing rate was 97.7%. Questionnaires surveys were used to investigate the prevalance of betel nut chewing and oral examination were performed to investigate whether there was OSF.ResultsAmong the 342 residents in Xiangtan City,161 people has betel nut chewing habits, the prevalence of betel nut chewing was 47.1%; the prevalence of chewing betel nut in male was 57.6%(91/158), which was significantly higher than that in female 38.0%(70/184). Among the 161 nut betel chewers,122 people are still chewing, while the rest had stopped chewing betel. The prevalence of betel chewing was siginificantly different between male and female, with the male chewer higher than that of female chewers. Also there was significant difference between urban residants and rural residants in the prevanlence of betel chewing, with 53.0%(106/200) in urban residants and 38.7%(55/142) in rural residants. No significant difference was found between male and female betel chewer in rural residants(P<0.05); while male chewers were significantly higher than female chewers in rural risidants(P>0.05). The average age of betel chewers was 38.4±13.5 years old while the average age of the first time betel chewer was 22.9±11.4 years old, and the average lasting time of chewing betel was 15.7±10.7 years, with 8.9±10.2 pieces of betels were chewed every day. There is no significant difference between urban and rural residants(P>0.05).Among the samples,11 people had OSF, including 7 male and 4 female nut betel chewers; while 7 urban people and 4 rural people had OSF. The prevalence rate of OSF was 3.2% in urban and rural residants and 6.8% in betel chewers. There was no difference between the urban and the rural residents in the prevalence rate of OSF.Conclusion1,There were much more people chewing betel nut than 1980s. The prevalence of betel nut chewing in urban residents was much higher than that of rural residents. And among the rural betel chewer, the prevalence of betel nut chewing was significantly higher in male chewers than female chewers2,The awareness of the dangers of betel nut chewing among the urban and rural residents were deficient.3,The prevalence of OSF among the urban and rural residents was Still in a higher level.