Dyslipidemia: Prevalence and associated risk factors among patients with Lichen Planus in Kano, North-West Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic inflammatory disorder. Recently, there are suggestions that LP is associated with dyslipidemia in a large series of patients independent of other causes.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors for dyslipidaemia among patients with LP.

METHODS: This case-control study included 180.subjects, 90 with lichen planus (39 men and 51 Women) and 90 (44 men and 46 women) controls consecutively recruited from the outpatient Dermatology clinic of Amnihu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano-Nigeria.

RESULTS: The prevalence of dyslipidemia was found to be higher among LP patients (32%) than the corol group (24%), p=0.208. Our study showed that male patients with LP have higher tendencies to develop dyslipidemia (OR 5.66, CI 1.73-19.59). Equally the duration of illness t 2 months was found to be a strong predictor of developing dyslipidemia (OR 5.65, CI 1.12-38.3). No significant differences were observed in glucose levels, body mass index, or blood pressure between the two study groups.

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dyslipidaemia among patients with LP in this study was high with male gender and increased-duration of illness being strong predictors. There is need for further studies on a larger scale to establish the prevalence and independent predictors of dyslipidaemia in patients with LP in our setting.