PSYCHOSOMATIC ASPECTS IN THE COURSE OF LICHEN PLANUS OF THE ORAL MUCOSA

Objectives. To determine the prevalence and severity of alexithymia in patients with oral manifestation of lichen planus (LP). Methodology. The study involved 90 young and middle-aged patients (mean age 49.4 ± 8.9 years). The patients were divided into 3 groups: group 1 – 34 people with oral manifestations of LP, group 2 – 16 people with leukoplakia, group 3 – 40 people without clinical manifestations of diseases of the oral mucosa. A dental examination was conducted, including an assessment of the condition of the oral mucosa, and a standardized questionnaire survey using a Russian-language validated version of the 20-point Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Results. Alexithymia was detected in 55.88% with various forms of LP, which is statistically 2.2 times higher (p < 0.001) than in patients with leukoplakia of the oral mucosa (25%) and 5.6 times higher (p < 0.001) than in patients of group 3 who do not have diseases of the oral mucosa. The average score of alexithymia in patients with LP was 80.5 ± 2.7 points, which is statistically significantly higher than in the group of patients with leukoplakia (61.0 ± 4.2 points, p = 0.006) and in the control group (44.1 ± 2.9 points, p < 0.001). A higher incidence of alexithymia was revealed in patients with exudative hyperemic form (58.33%, P1 = 0.041) and erosive-ulcerative form of LP (57.14%, p = 0.049). Quantitative assessment of alexithymia showed that among patients with LP, the greatest severity of alexithymia was found in patients with exudative hyperemic form of LP – 85.9 = 1.5 points, (p < 0.001). Conclusion. The data obtained allow us to consider LP as a disease in the development of which there is a psychosomatic component. The presence of alexithymia and the degree of its severity can be considered as a predictive or predictive candidate factor.