Thyroid Disease and Oral Lichen Planus as Comorbidity: A Prospective Case-Control Study

Abstract

Background: Thyroid disease has been mentioned to have a possible relation to the development of oral lichen planus (OLP). Objective: Because goiter is considered endemic in many countries, we proposed to determine whether thyroid disease constitutes a comorbidity of OLP. Methods: Two hundred and fifteen patients diagnosed as having OLP were evaluated concerning their serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroxine (T₄) levels. The results were contrasted with those obtained in control series of the same number of subjects matched for age and sex. Results: Diagnosis of thyroid disease was present in 15.3% of OLP patients (33/215) and in 5.2% (12/215) of the control group. In relation to OLP patients, the odds ratio of presence of thyroid disorders was 3.06 and that of using levothyroxine medication 3.21. Conclusions: In the present study, OLP patients were associated with thyroid disease, specifically with hypothyroidism. Because most thyroid patients need T₄ treatment, our findings confirmed that OLP and thyroid disease could be comorbidities.