Anxiety and depression as risk factors for oral lichen planus

Abstract

Background: Stress and anxiety have freiiuantly bmin mentioned as possible factors related to the ddvalop-ment of oral lichen planus (OLP), although this as&ocia-tion remains controversia!. Objective: To determine whether anxiety and depression constitute risk factors in the development of OLP. Material and Methods: Eighty patients diagnosed as having OLP were studied: anxiety was evaluated by the Hamilton Anxiety Sea le and de¬pression with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rat-ing Scale. The resutts were contrasted with those ob-tained in a control series of the same number of subjeets (n - 80) matched for age and sex. Resulta: Significantly g reater anxiety and depression were observad among patients with OLP than in the control group. Odds ratios of 2.8 and 4.4 were obtained for anxiety and depression, respectively. Conclusión: Our findings suggest that anxi¬ety and depression constitute risk factors that could influence the development of OLP