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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Epidemiology
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1560600
This article is part of the Research Topic Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders and Systemic Health View all 3 articles
Impact of Oral Precancerous Lesions on Oral Cancer Development in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 318 Oral Lichen Planus Patients
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Medical Education, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
- 2 Department of Stomatology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 3 Clinical Medicine Research Center, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
- 4 Department of Pathology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi City, Taiwan
- 5 Department of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Tainan County, Taiwan
- 6 Doctoral Program in Translational Medicine, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
- 7 Department of Biotechnology and Bioindustry Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Tainan County, Taiwan
Oral lichen planus (OLP) has been implicated as a potential risk factor for oral cancer. This study aimed to investigate the long-term determinants of oral cancer development following a diagnosis of OLP.A retrospective cohort study of 318 patients with histopathologically confirmed OLP was conducted at a tertiary medical center from 1995 to 2018. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the presence or absence of oral precancerous lesions (OPLs). Baseline characteristics, underlying medical conditions, and lifestyle factors were compared between groups. The hazard ratio (HR) and the 10-year cumulative risk for oral cancer development were estimated using logistic regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis, respectively.In our cohort, a total of 33 patients (10.38%) were diagnosed with oral cancer. After adjusting for confounders, OPLs (HR, 2.98), age over 50 years (HR, 4.36), chronic kidney disease (HR, 4.46), and alcohol consumption (HR, 4.23) emerged as independent risk factors for oral cancer development in patients with OLP (P < 0.05).The current study indicates that the presence of OPLs, including histologically confirmed verrucous hyperplasia and varying degrees of oral dysplasia, is associated with an increased risk of oral cancer development in patients with OLP. Further research is needed to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms linking OLP, OPL, and oral cancer occurrence.
Keywords: Chronic Periodontitis, Lichen Planus, oral cancer, Oral lichen planus, Oral precancerous lesion, risk factor
Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chu, Lin, Huang, Huang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hsun-Yu Huang, Department of Stomatology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, 539, Taiwan
Chien-Chin Chen, Department of Pathology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi City, Taiwan
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