Prevalence of Oral Manifestations in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients Referred to Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in 2018 - 2019

Abstract

Background: The oral mucosa is damaged in a significant percentage of patients with lupus, with the main oral lesions being ulcers, erythematous lesions, and discoid lesions. The prevalence of these lesions is estimated to vary from 9% to 45% in systemic disease and 3% to 20% in local skin disease. Objectives: One of the symptoms of lupus is its oral manifestations. Therefore, we decided to conduct a study to investigate the prevalence of oral manifestations in lupus patients referred to Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in Bandar Abbas. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the recorded information of patients with lupus referred to Shahid Mohammadi Hospital in Bandar Abbas from 2018 to 2019 was reviewed. All enrolled patients met the American College of Rheumatology criteria for classifying lupus. Recorded information, including demographic characteristics and various clinical manifestations, was recorded after examining the patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22 software. Results: A total of 76 patients were studied. Of them, 23 (30.2%) were males, and 53 (69.8%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 6.1 ± 42.9. The most common site of oral lesion in the participants was the lip area (36 patients), followed by buccal mucosa (22 patients), hard palate (14 patients), and dorsal surface of the tongue (four patients). The majority of the clinical manifestations of the lesion were wounds (36 individuals), followed by white and red lesions (20 patients), non-cleansing white lesions (12 patients), and red lesions (eight individuals). Conclusions: Oral symptoms are usually the first signs of this disease. For this reason, dentists have an important role to play in diagnosing emerging autoimmune diseases. Ulcers are the most prevalent clinical manifestations, according to this study, and the lips are the most prevalent location. As a result, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, these two findings should be given greater importance than others.