Association of Human Papillomavirus With Oral Lichen Planus and Oral Leukoplakia: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection with oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral leukoplakia (OLK), and determine risk cofactors.

Study design: Seven databases were searched for case-control or cross-sectional studies of OLP and OLK with healthy controls, published between 1976 and 2020. The Meta package of R software was applied to calculate the pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results: Thirty-six articles were finally included. OLP and OLK cases had a higher association with HPV infection than controls (OLP: OR: 4.91, 95% CI: 2.76-8.72; OLK: OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.55-4.07). In subgroup analyses, the OR of HPV infection was higher with erosive lesions than with nonerosive lesions (OLP: OR: 5.36 and 3.47, respectively; OLK: OR: 3.34 and 3.21, respectively). Oral lesions were more strongly associated with HPV16/18 than with HPV6/11 (OLP: OR: 7.84 and 1.42, respectively; OLK: OR: 6.05 and 1.87, respectively) and varied by geographic region (OLP: OR: 4.01-7.02; OLK: OR: 1.46-27.13).

Conclusions: Oral HPV infection, particularly infection with HPV 16/18, was strongly associated with OLP and OLK. Risk cofactors included erosive lesions and geographic region.

Keywords: Human papillomavirus infection; Meta-analysis; Oral leukoplakia; Oral lichen planus.