[Click! Health] "Adding 'Oral Examination' to National Health Screening Alone Reduces Risk of Head and Neck Cancer"

Seongwoo Jin, Hyojung Lee, and Geunyong Eom's Research Team at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital
Head and Neck Cancer Risk Increases by 16% with Only General Checkups Compared to Additional Oral Examinations
"Oral Examinations Are Important... Policies to Encourage Them Should Be Established"

Oral examination reference photo. [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A study has found that patients who underwent only general health checkups without oral examinations during the national health screening have a higher risk of developing head and neck cancer.

The research team led by Professor Jeong Woo-jin from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Professor Lee Hyo-jung from the Department of Dentistry, and Professor Eom Geun-yong from the Department of Radiation Oncology at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital (including Professor Lee Hye-jin from Family Medicine and first author Professor Wi Chan-woo from Seoul Metropolitan Government Boramae Medical Center) announced on the 11th that patients who received only general health checkups without oral examinations had about a 16% higher risk of developing head and neck cancer.

Head and neck cancer is a collective term for malignant tumors occurring in the head (cephalic region) and neck (cervical region) of the body, excluding the brain, eyes, and esophagus, affecting areas such as the mouth, nose, tongue, throat, and salivary glands. Representative types include laryngeal cancer, oral cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, and hypopharyngeal cancer. Approximately 5,000 patients are diagnosed annually. However, due to the variety of names depending on the site of occurrence, awareness of head and neck cancer itself is relatively low, and it is excluded from the national cancer screening program, resulting in many patients being diagnosed at an advanced stage.

From the left, Jeong Woo-jin, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital; Lee Hyo-jung, Department of Dentistry; Eom Geun-yong, Department of Radiation Oncology; Lee Hye-jin, Department of Family Medicine; and Professor Wi Chan-woo, Department of Radiation Oncology, Boramae Hospital.

The research team analyzed data from about 400,000 patients aged 40 and above who underwent national health screenings in 2003-2004, dividing them into 242,955 patients who received only general health checkups and 165,292 patients who also received oral examinations, and tracked the incidence of head and neck cancer over 10 years for comparison. As a result, the group that received only general health checkups had about a 16% higher incidence of head and neck cancer compared to the group that also received oral examinations. In particular, the risk increased by 48% and 20% for oropharyngeal and oral cancers, respectively. The research team explained that these differences were statistically significant even after adjusting for variables affecting head and neck cancer incidence, such as sex, age, other diseases, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

As a background, the research team suggested that patients, through dental specialists’ examinations and education, corrected lifestyle habits such as drinking and smoking that adversely affect oral hygiene or paid more attention to dental care, thereby reducing oral inflammation and human papillomavirus, which ultimately lowered the risk of head and neck cancers influenced by these factors.

Professor Lee Hyo-jung said, “It is meaningful that we have demonstrated that simply adding oral examinations to the national health screening, which covers most of the population, can significantly reduce the risk of head and neck cancer,” and added, “It is essential to raise public awareness about the importance of oral examinations and to promote policies encouraging oral examinations among national health screening participants.”

The results of this study were published in the international academic journal Cancer Research and Treatment, issued by the Korean Cancer Association.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.