Relationship Between Depression And Oral Lichen Planus

Objectives: Major depression is a psychiatric disorder wich occurs in adults since the third decade of life. Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease, non infectious, mucocutaneous involvement and autoinmune etiology that appears between the third and sixth decade. Despite an unclear etiopathogenesis, there have been reported psychologically factores like anxiety, stress and depression as posible triggers. The objetive of this poster is to review de relationship between depression and OLP.
Methods: A systematic review was made using as database Pubmed/Medline. For the search criteria, keywords such as “oral lichen planus”, “elderly” and “dperession” were used. In total, fourteen articles were selected, eleven cases and controls articles, two prospective studies and one retrospective study.
Results: There are many studies that reveal the existence of a relationship between patiens with OLP and depression. Some of these articles link symptomatic OLP cases with more severe and prolonged depression stages, while others articles affirm that during the deprressive symptoms exist more exacerbations of the OLP.
Conclusions: In patients with OLP and depression, a bidirectional relation can be established in the evolution of both diseases. Due to the role that the psychological component can play, it is necessary to consider psychotherapy as a complementary treatment in cases of symptomatic OLP.
In conclussion, in elderly patients where mucocutaneous, psychiatric and immune system disorders can happen at the same time, a multidisciplinary tretament is neccesary.