Oral Precancer and Cancer Awareness Among Indian Long Distance Heavy Vehicle Drivers – A Marginalized Population

Long-distance heavy vehicle drivers are marginalized population. Literature search revealed lack of data on this group's awareness, attitude and knowledge about oral cancer. This survey assessed the same among the mentioned who stop in and around Pondicherry. This is a part of the larger research project, funded by ICMR. 2340 heavy vehicle operators responded to a pre-validated questionnaire. The responses were expressed as frequency of means and total knowledge scores were expressed as mean and standard deviations. 67.7% of the participants knew what is oral pre-cancer and cancer. A small 8.9% responded that all smoking, smokeless tobacco, and alcohol can be a cause of oral cancer whilst the majority chose smokeless tobacco as the cause. Only 16% thought that oral cancer is preventable. Responding to questions that could reflect their attitude towards oral cancer awareness, 94.1% were willing to know more about oral cancer and 59% did not want to know about oral cancer. The mean knowledge score of the group is 6.35 ± 4.21. On correlating the age to total knowledge score, a positive correlation was observed (0.65; p = 0.002), but education status and total scores showed a negative correlation (-0.202; p=0.000). Awareness about oral cancer is inadequate among long-distance truck drivers in India. The majority of the population is not aware of the risks, signs, or treatment options of oral pre-cancer and cancer. Results indicate that we need to carry out educational campaigns aiming at the prevention and early diagnosis of oral cancer in this population.