The Prevalence of Oral Manifestations in AIDS/HIV+ Patients

1Peking University School and Hospital, Beijing, China, 2Contagious Hospital of Henan Province, Beijing, China

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the prevalence of AIDS/HIV-related oral manifestations and degree of immunosuppression.

METHOD: The study population comprised 123 AIDS/HIV-infected individuals registered at the Contagious Hospital of Henan Province included 72 males and 51 females, age range from 5 to 63 years (mean ± SD 40.59 ± 11.08). 76.4% were infected by parenteral transmission. The control group was 266 i HIV-negative individuals, who were age and sex matched. Diagnoses were made on physical examination, laboratory testing and histopathological examination.

RESULT: Oral mucosal lesions were present in 84 of 123 (68.3%) of the HIV/AIDS, which was significantly higher than the control group (25.9%). The prevalence of oral lesions in AIDS patients was significantly higher than in HIV+ individuals (p=0.003). The prevalence of oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) was 12.2% (15/123), oral candidiasis was 11.4% (14/123), ulcerative gingivitis 2.4% (3/123), recurrent ulceration (ROU) 11.4% (14/123), idiopathic ulceration 7.3% (9/123), non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) 0.8% (1/123), necrotizing stomatitis 0.8% (1/123), herpes-simplex 9.8% (12/123), hyperpigmentation 10.6%(13/123), chronic cheilitis 10.6%(13/123), leukokeratosis 4.9%(6/123), smoking related lesion 4.9%(6/123), and bloody vesicles 5.7%(7/123). The rates of OHL, oral candidiasis, ROU, idiopathic ulceration, herpes, hyperpigmentation, leukokeratosis, smoking related lesion and bloody vesicles were significantly higher than those in control group (p<0.05). The prevalence of oral lesions in AIDS/HIV+ patients increased with decreasing CD4+ cell count (p=0.003). The rate of OHL and herpes-simplex increased with AIDS diagnosis and decreased CD4+ cell count, but had no significant difference between the sexes.

CONCLUSION: Deteriorating immune function in AIDS/HIV+ patients in this study is associated with increasing oral lesion prevalence. The presence of OHL may indicate low CD4+ counts.