Psychological profiles in patients with symptomatic reticular forms of oral lichen planus: A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze intra, extra-oral symptoms and psychological profiles in symptomatic patients with reticular (R) forms of oral lichen planus (OLP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty symptomatic R-OLP (sR-OLP) patients were compared with an equal number of non-symptomatic R-OLP (nsR-OLP) patients, burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients, and healthy subjects (HS). The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), the Total Pain Rating Index (T-PRI), and the Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HAM-D) and Anxiety (HAM-A) were administered. Descriptive statistics, the non-parametric ANOVA procedure by Kruskal-Wallis, the exact Fisher test, and the multiple comparison test by the Mann-Whitney U test were performed.

RESULTS: The median and IQR of the HAM-D and HAM-A were 16.0 (11.7-24.0) and 17.5 (13.7-27.2) for the BMS, 13.5 (12.0-15.0) and 15.5 (10.7-18.0) for the sR-OLP patients, 2.0 (2.0-3.2) and 2.0 (2.0-4.0) for the nsR-OLP patients, and 3.0 (2.0-4.0) and 3.0 (2.0-4.0) for the HS, respectively. The median and IQR of the NRS and T-PRI were 9.0 (7.7-10.0) and 11.0 (9.0-12.2) for the BMS and 9.0 (7.7-10.0) and 11.5 (7.0-13.0) for the sR-OLP patients, respectively. Comparison analysis between the BMS and sR-OLP patients revealed a non-significant difference between the medians of the psychological profile and pain in the two groups (P-value>.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The oral complaints are correlated with anxious and depressive symptoms in sR-OLP patients. Mood disorders could modulate the pain perception or that patients could develop two different associated oral diseases, OLP and BMS.