Oral lichen planus clinical characteristics in Italian patients: a retrospective analysis

Abstract

BackgroundOral lichen Planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease involving skin and mucous membranes. Its etiology is still uncertain whilst an autoimmune mechanism is known to be implicated. OLP is commonly considered a geriatric disease and gender differences in prevalence are clear, whereby females are generally more frequently affected than males more often during the 5th and 6th decades of life. Lesions are symmetrical and bilateral and the buccal mucosa is frequently involved. The risk of malignant transformation is extremely low.This study aims to describe both the clinical characteristics and the prevalence of OLP among a group of patients from Southern Italy. The results of the present study were compared to analogous retrospective studies.MethodsEighty-seven (31 man and 56 woman) cases of OLP were retrospectively reviewed and demographic and clinical data were collected. Data about OLP as clinical forms, oral and extraoral sites involved and Visual Analogue Scale were also recorded.ResultsThe average age of OLP onset was 59.2 years. The most common clinical presentation was the hyperkeratosic type. Symptomatic OLP was noted in 26.8 % of the patiens. The most frequently affected oral sites were buccal mucosa, tongue, gums. The most frequently associated systemic diseases were diabetes, hypertension, C hepatitis and thyroiditis. Only one patient developed a malignant transformation (1.2 %).ConclusionsPrevious retrospective studies report data partially comparable with our results. Different geographic area, number of enrolled patients and OLP classification criteria may justify the observed differences.

Psychological disorders and quality of life in oral lichen planus patients and a control group

“…As other authors had prior (Ingafou, Leao, Porter, & Scully, ; Lauritano et al, ; Mostafa & Ahmed, ; Xue et al, ), we found a higher incidence of OLP in women (85.4%). A possible reason for this association could be that women have greater genetic, neuronal and psychological predisposition to developing depressive or anxious episodes (Ramsey et al, ).…”

“…Even so, reticular lesions are probably the most common, given that they are, in many cases, casual findings, whereas atrophic/ulcerative lesions are a frequent reason for a consultation because of the symptoms they present (Blanco Carrión et al, 2008). Regarding location, the most common lesions were those appearing on the buccal mucosa, both bilaterally and symmetrically, as occurred in other studies (Kaplan et al, 2012;Lauritano et al, 2016;Mostafa & Ahmed, 2015;Shirasuna, 2014;Xue et al, 2005).…”

Self-perceived Oral Health, Satisfaction with Overall Health and Quality of Life Comparisons between Patients with Oral Lichen Planus and their Matched Controls

“…6 Diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis C, and thyroiditis have been the most frequently associated systemic diseases with OLP. 27 Our findings are also in accordance with the Pippi et al case-control study which reported significant associations among smoking, psychological factors, and OLP. 28 In the present study, OLP patients as compared to their matched controls more frequently experienced oral disease-related pain or discomfort.…”

Association of Oral Lichen Planus with Autoimmune Diseases in A Northern Serbia Population: Matched Case-Control Study and Literature Review

“…It can be noticed clear difference in reported coexistence of thyroid gland pathosis and OLP between Northern and Central European countries (Finland [11], Czech Republic [28] and Croatia [34]) and Southern Mediterranean countries (Italy [1,26] and Turkey [29]). Although, distinction in thyroid gland diseases prevalence is obvious between the different regions of the same country, reported on different sample size [1,31]. These observation and results of present study suggest that the association of thyroid diseases with OLP may depend on the geographic origin of the patients, similar to HCV association [1,7,35].…”

“…Eleven of them had histological confirmation of all cases with distinguish between OLP and OLL [1,11,23,25,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33] and five presented with control group [11,13,24,25,27]. It can be noticed clear difference in reported coexistence of thyroid gland pathosis and OLP between Northern and Central European countries (Finland [11], Czech Republic [28] and Croatia [34]) and Southern Mediterranean countries (Italy [1,26] and Turkey [29]).…”