Interaction of Alcohol Use and Specific Types of Smoking on the Development of Oral Cancer

Results: The smoking as well as alcohol drinking rates in the subjects of the case group were significantly higher than the controls. Of smoking types, bidi (a hand rolled cigarette) (OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 2.4-6.9), and among alcohol types, hard liquor (OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1. 4-6.4), country liquor (OR = 2.5, 95% CI = 1.3-3.6) and beer (OR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.2-5.0), showed a strong association with oral cancer. A significant interaction effect was found between alcohol consumption and bidi smoking (OR = 19.6, 95% CI = 4.6-83.5) followed by alcohol and non- filtered cigarette (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 1.8-12.0) as well as filtered-cigarette (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.1-5.0). Conclusions: We conclude that oral cancer is etiologically related to the interaction between smoking and drinking.