Oral Cancer Awareness and Knowledge among Marginalised Group in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia

Oral cancer is the sixth common type of cancer in the world. In Malaysia, it contributes to about 10.6% death in government hospitals. Mortality and morbidity due to oral cancer could be reduced if it could be detected at an early stage. Socioeconomic status is an important determinant of incidence of head and neck cancer. This study investigated the awareness and knowledge of low-income community in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia and its associated factors. This cross-sectional study used questionnaire with convenient sampling among the community of Paya Nahu who attended our health campaign. Their awareness was fairly good (7, however, their in-depth knowledge on oral cancer was poor with a mean score of 9.68 (SD 4.46). Smoking was the well-known risk factor (64.4%), about half of them knew the sign and symptoms of oral cancer, 77.1% agreed with benefit of early detection and 55% of them knew that mouth self-examination is a step to prevent oral cancer. The unemployed has 0.33 time the odds compared to the employed to have good knowledge (95% CI: 0.120, 0.890, p-value < 0.029) when adjusted for occupation. Media and health campaign were the main sources of information. It is essential to increase awareness and knowledge on oral cancer among the low socioeconomic status community. Since low socioeconomic standard is a factor which restricts health seeking behaviour, outreach programmes such as informative media and improved health campaign should be planned accordingly.