Alcohol consumption appears to play a substantial and independent role in the burden of buccal mucosa cancer in India, according to a large multicenter case-control study published in BMJ Global Health. The findings suggest that even low levels of alcohol intake are associated with a significantly increased risk of this common and often fatal malignancy, particularly when combined with chewing tobacco. Buccal mucosa cancer is the predominant form of oral cancer in India and represents the country’s second most common malignancy overall. Each year, India records an estimated 143,759 new cases and nearly 80,000 deaths from mouth cancer.
Survival remains poor, with fewer than half of affected individuals living beyond five years. Alarmingly, a substantial proportion of cases occur in relatively young adults, reflecting early and sustained exposure to known carcinogens. The study addressed…
