Challenges Management of Patients with Oral Cancer and Its Impact on Oral health‑related quality of life in Resource-limited Settings

Purpose the purpose of the present study was to identify the challenges in the management of patients with OC in resource-limited settings, and to evaluate their quality of life in this area. Material and methods A cohort random study of Congolese participants was conducted using a clinical questionnaire and an Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)‑14 questionnaire between the OC patient and control groups. Predictor variable was the treatment method, clinical characteristics and the main outcome variable(s) were the challenges or quality of life. The Chi‑square test was used to compare the percentage of qualitatively dependent variables, independent sample t‑test and ANOVA to compare OHIP score. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Results Out of 457 patients, 66% were male, and 34% female.More than fifty percent of patients were unemployed. Observation therapy and traditional medicine were done in 29.8% and 25.4%. More than sixty percent of patients reported delays in initiating cancer treatment and 78% of participants could not inform other persons because of the conception of oral cancer diseases. The patients with OC were affected by the quality of life even with or without the treatment done. Conclusion: Challenges management of oral cancer in resource-limited settings result in several factors. This mostly are the result of the poor socioeconomic status of the patients and the conception of oral cancer diseases in the region. With or without treatment, the patients were affected in their quality of life.