Knowledge and awareness of oral cancer and impact of pictorial warnings on the willingness to quit tobacco in young tobacco consumers in India.

Background Oral cancer is most common cancer globally and is one of the most life-threatening conditions worldwide. Aim To assess the knowledge and awareness of oral cancer and the impact of pictorial warnings on the willingness to quit tobacco in young tobacco consumers in India. Methods This cross-sectional study included 250 young tobacco consumers from Ranchi, Jharkhand. A pretested validated questionnaire was used that collected information on knowledge and awareness of oral cancer from the respondents. The responses were estimated on a three-point scale (No/Don't know/Yes). p-Value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The majority of the respondents were aware of oral cancer (92.0%). Educational status was significantly associated with a good knowledge of awareness of oral cancer and its associated risk factors (p-Value <0.05). Media was identified as the main source for spreading oral cancer awareness (69.1%). The majority of the people were aware of the pictorial warnings on tobacco products (96.1%). However, the pictorial warnings seem to have a very low impact on willingness to quit tobacco by the respondents (20.0%). Conclusion Alternative strategies need to be employed by the government to motivate people to quit tobacco consumption. Dental health education should be provided and educational pamphlets should be distributed to create awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption.