The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions and related factors in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory multi systematic disease of unknown aetiology. SLE has a wide range of symptoms. The most common symptoms are joint pain, skin rash and fever. Oral lesions in SLE manifest in a variety of forms, such as oral mucosal ulceration, mouth burns, xerostomia and salivary gland diseases, temporomandibular joint disease, periodontal disease, dysgeusia, white lesions, oedema, bleeding and petechiae. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions and their related factors in patients with SLE, giving the lack of comprehensive statistical data in Syria and the differences between reported prevalence. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in the Al-Mouassat University Hospital in Damascus. Patients were evaluated appropriating observation, clinical examination, completing questionnaires, studying patient’s medical records and paraclinical laboratory tests if required. Four types of oral lesions were evaluated: ulcer, erythema, white plaque and spots. The diagnosis of these lesions was made according to observation and clinical examination, and the location of each lesion was also recorded. Data were analysed using SPSS version 16.0. RESULT: In this study, 42 (70% %) out of 60 patients (38 women and 4 men) had oral lesions, while 18 (30%) had none. The most common areas for the lesions were the buccal mucosa (26.1%) and the lips (14.2%). Of the 42 patients with oral lesions, 12 (27.6%) showed ulcers. There was a significant relationship between the following factors and oral lesions: oral hygiene status, the duration of the disease involvement, frequency of pregnancies, the amount of daily use of corticosteroids without significant difference between dosage groups, and medications used for SLE treatment other than corticosteroids (p < 0.008) without mentioned names or dosages. Conversely, age, sex, cigarette smoking and medications other than those used for SLE treatment were not significantly related to the presence of oral lesions (p value was greater than 0.05 in all subjects).