Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with Lichen Planus: A Cross-sectional Study from a Tertiary Care Center

There have been reports of association between lichen planus (LP) and metabolic syndrome and its various parameters.

To determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with LP and to determine the association between the morphologic types of LP and metabolic syndrome.

In this cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 1 year, 70 clinically diagnosed patients with LP were included and evaluated for metabolic syndrome based on the modified National Cholesterol Education Program: Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 17 software, and inferential statistical tools such as t-test for continuous data and Chi-square test for categorical data were used.

A 35.7% prevalence of metabolic syndrome was found in patients with LP. The average duration of LP was found to be higher in patients with metabolic syndrome. There was a higher prevalence of central obesity, increased fasting blood sugar, and low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterolin patients with LP.

Metabolic syndrome was seen in 25 patients (35.7%) with LP. It is important to advise our patients to adopt healthy lifestyle choices to help prevent comorbidities and improve the general health of population. As this study was a cross-sectional study, the directionality of the association between LP and metabolic syndrome could not be assessed. Lack of controls and a small sample size are other limitations of our study.