Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus:- An Indian perspective

Anxiety and depression are commonly considered as important factors in development and progression of oral lichen planus (OLP). Many studies have been done in western countries although little documentation has been done in India to substantiate this widely held assumption. Therefore a study was undertaken to estimate the presence of anxiety and depression in patients with OLP in comparison to healthy subjects in Indian scenario and to compare the anxiety and depression between the types of lichen planus (erosive/non erosive form).

48 patients diagnosed as having OLP and 48 age and sex matched controls were studied. Anxiety and depression were evaluated using Hamilton anxiety and depression scale.

Higher anxiety (7.7±6.4) and depression (9.0±8.7) were observed among patients with OLP than in controls (0.3±0.6) and (0.2±0.4) on Hamilton anxiety and depression rating scale respectively and the difference was highly significant (P<0.001). Erosive OLP was associated with higher anxiety (9.0±6.7) and depression (10.5±8.3) than non erosive OLP (7.0±6.2), (8.1±9.0) respectively but it was not statistically significant (P=0.29 and 0.22 respectively).

Anxiety and depression may act as risk factors that could influence the development of OLP. Psychobiologic interventions along with conventional therapy should also be taken into consideration while treating such patients.