title: Oral manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients in Taiwan.
abstract: To understand the characteristic clinical features of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related oral lesions and determine the prevalence of various oral lesions in HIV-infected patients in Taiwan, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 207 HIV-infected patients at the Taipei Municipal Institute for Venereal Disease Control. Overall, 108 (52.2%) patients had at least one oral lesion. The most common oral manifestation of HIV infection among these 207 patients was oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL, 29.5%), followed by candidiasis (12.1%), xerostomia (10.6%), aphthous ulcers (8.7%), and linear gingival erythema (5.8%). Less frequently encountered oral lesions included leukoplakia (1.9%), papilloma (1.4%), necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis (1.0%), Kaposi's sarcoma (1.0%), herpes simplex (0.5%), Burkitt's lymphoma (0.5%), and parotid gland enlargement (0.5%). Thirty-one (15%) patients had multiple oral lesions. Patients with oral candidiasis or multiple oral lesions had significantly lower mean CD4 lymphocyte counts and CD4/CD8 lymphocyte ratios than those without any oral lesions (p < 0.05). Chi-square analysis revealed that patients with CD4 lymphocyte counts below 200 cells/mm3 were more prone to have OHL (p < 0.002), oral candidiasis (p < 0.001) and multiple oral lesions (p < 0.001). Those with CD4/CD8 lymphocyte ratios below 0.4 were more likely to have OHL (p < 0.02), oral candidiasis (p < 0.01) and multiple oral lesions (p < 0.02) than those with higher counts. In conclusion, the occurrence of oral lesions, especially OHL and oral candidiasis, is fairly common in Taiwanese HIV-infected patients.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Chueh
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D002180:Candidiasis, Oral / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D017733:Leukoplakia, Hairy / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000209:etiology