Possible relationship between Oral lichen planus, Oral leukoplakia and Comorbid diseases

Background: The exact relation between precancerous lesions such as oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral leukoplakia (OL) and comorbid diseases is not yet fully understood. For this reason our study aimed: to reveal the frequency of comorbid diseases in our OLP and OL patient groups, to examine the possible effects of comorbid diseases on the clinical presentation of these oral lesions and to provide a model for the possible relationships between comorbid diseases and OLP or OL lesions.
Methods and material: One hundred and six patients (81 females, 25 males, age range: 23 to 91) were referred to the Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen between the years 2003 to 2007 with oral lesions. Data were collected retrospectively. The nature of oral lesions (being OLP or OL) presence of comorbid diseases were investigated and statistical analysis of the data was performed.
Results: From the 106 patients, 77 patients had OLP and 29 patients were found to have OL. Twenty OL patients (69.0%) had homogenous form of OL while 9 OL patients (31.0%) had non homogenous while 48 (62.3%) OLP patients were found to have non erosive form of OLP while 29 (37.7%) patients had erosive form. Frequency of diseases was decided. Correlation between comorbid diseases and lesions, between comorbid diseases and lesion subtypes has been decided. Diabetes affects lesion type in case of OLP but not in OL and regression analysis also supported this result (p≤0.05)
Discussion: In case of OLP, topical treatment is not superior to placebo. The elimination of all known risk factors improves 30% of all OL cases. High frequency of comorbid diseases in OL and OLP patients may raise the importance of treating systemic diseases in these patients.