Lack of association between diabetes mellitus and oral lichen planus in Zahedan (South-East of Iran)

Introduction: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic immunological disorder with unknown etiology. Some studies have reported an association between oral lichen planus and diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of diabetes mellitus in patients with oral lichen planus and healthy persons. Materials & Methods: This case ‒ control study was performed on 50 patients with OLP and 50 healthy individuals. Diagnosis of OLP was confirmed by typical clinical and histopathological findings. The control group were selected randomly from healthy individuals after matching for age and sex. Blood samples were taken to achieve 5 mL for measuring fasting serum blood glucose and HbA1C. Data were analyzed using Student’s t-test. Results: In this case ‒ control study, 50 patients with OLP (39 females, 11 males) with a mean age of 44.5±13.24 years and 50 healthy individuals (33 females, 17 males) with a mean age of 41.3±11.44 years were evaluated. The mean fasting blood glucose and HbA1C levels in patient with OLP were 95.1 ± 8.1 and 5.1±1.3 mg/dL , and 89.1±7.7 and 4.6±1.1 mg/dL in healthy individuals (P=1). Conclusion: The frequency of diabetes mellitus was not significantly different between the case and the control groups. The results showed that diabetes mellitus does not have a direct role in the OLP etiology.