Association between clinical signs and quality of life in Thai patients with oral lichen planus

Abstract

Subjective patient’s symptoms and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were recommended to be involved in oral lichen planus (OLP) studies. Objectives: to evaluate 1) the association between OLP clinical signs and OHRQoL as well as pain perception. 2) the association between OLP pain and OHRQoL. Methods: Sixty-nine OLP or oral lichenoid drug reaction (OLDR) Thai patients were recruited. Data were collected through personal interview with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and Thai version of Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) index. OLP signs were examined in aspects of localization, type and clinical severity according to the Thongprasom sign scoring system. Results: 1) there was statistically significant association between OLP clinical severity and the intensity of oral impacts (Spearman’s correlation (rs) = 0.490, p < 0.001) and with OLP pain (rs = 0.298, p = 0.013). The intensity of OLP impacts and pain intensities were increased along with OLP clinical severity, except for the clinical score 1. The ulcerative OLP lesions equivalent to clinical score 4 and 5 were the most painful symptom and had substantial impacts on OHRQoL. Presence of OLP at soft palate had considerable worsened OHRQoL. 2) there was statistically significant association between OLP pain and the intensity of oral impacts (rs= 0.400, p = 0.001). Conclusion: The results showed the OHRQoL measure would valid against OLP clinical measure. As the discrepancy based on its measurement, using merely OLP clinical indicators were insufficient. OHRQoL measures could complement OLP clinical measures.