Systemic Disease Associations of Oral Lichenoid Disease: A Retrospective Case-Control Study

To analyze the association between oral lichen planus (OLP), oral lichenoid lesions (OLL), and other comorbidities.

A case-control study of 205 OLP, 96 OLL patients, and 301 age- and sex-matched controls from Kuopio University Hospital was performed. Medical history, regular medications, allergies, lichen planus in the body, and clinical features of OLP/OLL were recorded.

The prevalence of autoimmune hypothyroidism (HT) was 12.2% in OLP, 18.8% in OLL, and 9% in the control group; the estimated odds ratio (OR) was 1.425 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.793 to 2.562) (p = 0.237) for OLP and 2.292 [95% CI 1.175-4.47] (p = 0.015) for OLL. Allergies were found in 36.1% of OLP patients and in 22.9% of controls; the estimated OR was 1.872 [95% CI 1.245-2.815] (p = 0.003) for OLP. Patients with HT had more often erosive lesions than patients without HT.

The present study suggests that OLL is associated with HT. The association between OLP and HT was not statistically significant. Allergies are associated with OLP.