Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting blood glucose in patients with Lichen Planus

Background: The relationship between Lichen Planus (LP) and diabetes was studied previously, but the re-sults were in conflict. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in patients with LP among Iranian patients. Methods: In this study, 80 patients with LP were enrolled. They referred to dermatology clinic of our hospital during one year. A self-designed checklist for the study included duration of the disease, the pattern of the dis-tribution of lichenoid lesions and fasting blood sugar (FBS). Results: From 80 patients with LP, 16 (20%) had diabetes. Also, 14 patients (17.5%) had impaired fasting glucose. The mean age of diabetic patients was significantly higher than non-diabetic group (p=0.039). In addi-tion, the duration of LP in patients with DM was significantly higher than non-diabetic patients (p=0.024). Conclusion: In our study, we saw a high prevalence of DM among patients with LP. Comparing our findings with the overall prevalence of DM in Iran, there was a significant difference between the prevalence of DM among patients with LP and the overall prevalence (p=0.001). Regarding our findings screening for FBS in pa-tients with LP is required in Iran.