title: Oral lichen planus - retrospective study of 563 Croatian patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of oral lichen planus (OLP) in a group of Croatian patients seen between 2006 and 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  A group of 563 patients with a diagnosis of OLP was retrospectively reviewed in our clinic. Data regarding age, gender, medical history, drugs, smoking, alcohol, chief complaint, clinical type, localization, histology, treatment and malignant transformation were registered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 563 patients, 414 were females and 149 were males. The average age at the diagnosis was 58 (range 11-94). The most common site was buccal mucosa (82.4%). Most of our patients did not smoke (72.5%) or consume alcohol (69.6%). Patients reported oral soreness (43.3%), mucosal roughness (7%), xerostomia (3%), gingival bleeding (2%) and altered taste (0.5%) as the chief complaint, while almost half of them were asymptomatic (44.2%). The most common types of OLP were reticular (64.8%) and erosive (22.9%). Plaque-like (5.7%) atrophic/erythemtous (4.3%) and bullous (2.3%) type were also observed. Malignant transformation rate of 0.7% was recorded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OLP mostly affects non-smoking middle-aged women. Buccal mucosa is the most commonly affected site. In almost half of the cases patients are asymptomatic. In spite of the small risk for malignant transformation all patients should be regularly monitored.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, Gunduliceva 5, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia, brailo@sfzg.hr.
authors.forename: Vice
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Budimir
authors.forename: Ivica
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andabak-Rogulj
authors.forename: Vanja
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vučićević-Boras
authors.forename: Jozo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Budimir
authors.forename: Vlaho
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brailo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult