Influence of Different Antiretroviral and Traditional Therapies on the Oral Manifestations of AIDS/HIV

1Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, China, 2Ditan Hospital, Beijing, China

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of oral manifestation in AIDS/HIV+ patients and to evaluate influence of different therapies on oral lesions.

Method: The study included 102 AIDS/HIV+ patients from Ditan Hospital, 82.4% (84/102) male, 17.6% (18/102) female, with age range 21 to 63 years (mean±SD 37.03±8.00). 33% of them were using highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) (Group 1) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapy, others had either HAART (Group 2) or TCM (Group 3), or no any therapy (Group 4). The control group included 266 HIV-negtive individuals, who were age and sex matched. Diagnoses were made according to criteria.

Result: Oral mucosal disease was found in 74.5% (76/102) of AIDS/HIV+ patients, which was significantly higher than that in 17.0% (45/266) of control group (p=0.000). The prevalence of oral candidiasis was 11.8% (12/102), oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) 8.8% (9/102), gingival linear erythema 1.0% (1/102), recurrent oral ulceration (ROU) 27.5% (28/102), idiopathic ulcer 3.9% (4/102), warts 2.0% (2/102), hyperpigmentation 10.8% (11/102), chronic cheilitis 14.7% (15/102), herpes-simplex infection 2.0% (2/102), leukokeratosis 7.8% (8/102), smoking related keratosis 2.9% (1/102), bloody vesicle 2.9% (3/102), leukoedema 11.8% (12/102) and fissured tongue 12.7% (13/102). The rates of oral candidiasis, ROU, idiopathic ulcer, OHL, hyperpigmentation, leukokeratosis, leukoedema were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.05). The prevalence of oral lesions increased from group 1 to 4 and correlated with different therapies (p<0.05). The numbers of oral lesions was significantly different between Group 1 and Group 4 (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The immunosuppression associated with HIV infection caused a high prevalence of oral mucosal disease. The combination of HAART and TCM may significantly decrease the number of oral lesions.