Associated factors with health-compromising behaviors among patients treated for oral cancer

R Barrios-Rodriguez, JA Gil-Montoya, J Montero, EM Rosel, M Bravo
2018 Medicina Oral  
To improve eradication strategies of health-compromising behaviors between oral cancer survivors, this study aimed to explore the extent of clustering of risk behaviors and to assess possible factors associated. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among oral cancer patients at least 6 months after treatment. They completed a questionnaire about smoking, alcohol consumption, oral hygiene habits and dental visits. Presence of clusters was evaluated through pairwise
more » ... n correlations and principal component analysis. Factors associated with each identified cluster were analyzed with multivariate models. Results: Among 142 patients, 14.8% smoked, 51.7% consumed alcohol, 52.1% performed oral hygiene less than twice a day, and 74.6% visited to dentist when there was a problem or never. There were two distinct clusters: smoking-alcohol consumption (general risk behaviors cluster) and oral hygiene-dental attendance (oral risk behaviors cluster). Multivariate analysis showed significant associations between males and both clustering patterns of health compromising behaviors, patients with clinical stage I or with longer follow-up and the presence of general risk behaviors cluster and worse social class and the presence of oral risk behaviors cluster.
doi:10.4317/medoral.22655 fatcat:tj6d6ul7l5f2nkr4fz4hnzhkzi