Anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and gastric parietal cell antibody positivity in oral lichen planus patients with iron deficiency

Background/purpose: Our previous study found that 99 of 588 oral lichen planus (OLP) patients have iron deficiency (ID). This study assessed whether all OLP patients with ID (so-called ID/OLP patients) had iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and evaluated whether the ID/OLP patients had significantly higher frequencies of anemia, hematinic deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA) positivity than healthy control subjects. Materials and methods: The blood hemoglobin (Hb) and serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, homocysteine, and GPCA levels in 99 ID/OLP patients and 588 healthy control subjects were measured and compared. Results: We found that 99 ID/OLP patients had significantly lower mean blood Hb and serum iron, vitamin B12, folic acid levels as well as significantly higher mean serum homocysteine level than 588 healthy control subjects (all P-values <0.001). Moreover, 99 ID/OLP patients had significantly higher frequencies of blood Hb (64.7 %) and serum vitamin B12 (19.2 %), and folic acid (2.0 %) deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia (34.3 %), and serum GPCA positivity (33.3 %) than 588 healthy control subjects (all P-values <0.05). Furthermore, of 64 anemic ID/OLP patients, 2 (3.1 %) had pernicious anemia, 30 (46.9 %) had normocytic anemia, and 32 (50.0 %) had IDA. Conclusion: ID/OLP patients have significantly higher frequencies of blood Hb and serum vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, and serum GPCA positivity than healthy control subjects. Although the IDA (50.0 %) is the most common type of anemia in our 64 anemic ID/OLP patients, there are still 46.9 % of the 64 anemic ID/OLP patients who had the normocytic anemia.