Abstract
Background: Oral lichen planus is a common, chronic autoimmune mucocutaneous disease which can affect oral mucosa with varying presentation from keratotic to erosive, ulcerative or bullous lesions. Factors such as stress have been mentioned as etiologic factors in lichen planus, but there is still controversy concerning the role of stress as a major etiologic factor in the pathogenesis of lichen planus. We aim to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with oral lichen planus and to estimate the level of psychological stress in patients with oral lichen planus compared to asymptomatic control group.
Methods: A pilot study was conducted in the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Government Dental College, Kottayam. All new patients with clinical diagnosis of OLP were included as cases along with age and sex matched control group.The experimental group consisted of OLP subjects (n=20) and control group consisted of apparently healthy general Out Patient Department (OPD) patients (n=20). The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale was used to evaluate psychosocial stress.
Results: The study included 20 OLP patients aged 34-76 years (mean age 56.80) with male to female ratio of 1.5: 3.5. The mean stress score among cases based on Holmes and Rahe Stress scale was found to be 182.50 (moderate risk) and controls was 118.40 (low risk). The p value was not found to be significant between cases and controls to prove association between OLP and stress based on Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale.
Conclusion: The mean stress score was found to be high in the OLP group compared to control group. However based on this pilot study it cannot be concluded that OLP onset is significantly associated with stress. Hence further studies are recommended with larger population sample in order to attain definitive conclusions.
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Corresponding Author
Admaja K Nair
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i8.68
