Abstract
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Microcytosis is defined as having mean corpuscular volume (MCV) < 80 fL. This study evaluated whether 78 oral lichen planus (OLP) patients with microcytosis (microcytosis/OLP patients) and 510 OLP patients without microcytosis (non-microcytosis/OLP patients) had higher frequencies of anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity than 588 healthy control subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Complete blood count and serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels in 78 microcytosis/OLP patients, 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients, and 588 healthy control subjects were measured and compared. RESULTS: We found that 71.8 %, 46.2 %, 10.3 %, 0.0 %, 18.0 %, and 20.5 % of 78 microcytosis/OLP patients and 18.0 %, 12.4 %, 10.2 %, 1.4 %, 21.6 %, and 24.1 % of 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients had blood hemoglobin, serum iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity, respectively. Both 78 microcytosis/OLP patients and 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients had significantly higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin, serum iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than 588 healthy control subjects (all P-values <0.001). Moreover, 78 microcytosis/OLP patients had significantly higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin and serum iron deficiencies than 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients. CONCLUSION: We conclude that our 78 microcytosis/OLP patients and 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients have significantly higher frequencies of anemia, serum iron and vitamin B12 deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than 588 healthy control subjects. Moreover, 78 microcytosis/OLP patients also have significantly higher frequencies of blood hemoglobin and serum iron deficiencies than 510 non-microcytosis/OLP patients.