Is There a Correlation Between Quality of Life and Salivary Interleukin-6 in Patients With Oral Lichen Planus or Burning Mouth Syndrome?

OBJECTIVES

The aim of our study was to compare the salivary interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration and the quality of life (QoL) in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) or burning mouth syndrome (BMS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 160 subjects participated in the cross-sectional study. The unstimulated whole saliva (UWS) was used as a reference for the determination of salivary IL-6 concentration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). QoL was assessed using the Croatian version of the Oral Health Impact Profile Questionnaire (OHIP-CRO14).

RESULTS

The salivary IL-6 concentration showed no statistically significant difference between patients with OLP, patients with BMS or control subjects (p = 0.244). There was a strong/good positive correlation between symptom intensity (pain/burning) and the OHIP-CRO14 dimension "physical pain" (r = 0.720, p < 0.001) and "physical impossibility" (r = 0.372, p = 0.003) in patients with OLP. There was a good positive correlation between symptom intensity (pain/burning) and the OHIP-CRO14 dimension "handicap" (r = 0.353, p = 0.005) in patients with BMS.

CONCLUSIONS

Symptom intensity (pain/burning) showed no correlation with salivary IL-6 concentration in patients with OLP or BMS. A slight increase or decrease in salivary IL-6 concentration in OLP or BMS indicates an inflammatory etiopathogenesis of OLP and a loss of neuroprotection in BMS.