Oral manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients in Taiwan

To understand the characteristic clinical features of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related oral lesions and determine the prevalence of various oral lesions in HIV-infected patients in Taiwan, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 207 HIV-infected patients at the Taipei Municipal institute for Venereal Disease Control. Overall, 108 (52.2%) patients had at least one oral lesion. The most common oral manifestation of HIV infection among these 207 patients was oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL, 29.5%), followed by candidiasis (12.1%), xerostomia (10.6%), aphthous ulcers (8.7%), and linear gingival erythema (5.8%). Less frequently encountered oral lesions included leukoplakia (1.9%), papilloma (1.4%), necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis (1.0%), Kaposi's sarcoma (1.0%), herpes simplex (0.5%), Burkitt's lymphoma (0.5%), and parotid gland enlargement (0.5%). Thirty-one (15%) patients had multiple oral lesions. Patients with oral candidiasis or multiple oral lesions had significantly lower mean CD4 lymphocyte counts and CD4/CD8 lymphocyte ratios than those without any oral lesions (p < 0.05). Chi-square analysis revealed that patients with CD4 lymphocyte counts below 200 cells/mm(3) were more prone to have OHL (p < 0.002), oral candidiasis (p < 0.001) and multiple oral lesions (p < 0.001). Those with CD4/CD8 lymphocyte ratios below 0.4 were more likely to have OHL (p < 0.02), oral candidiasis (p < 0.01) and multiple oral lesions (p < 0.02) than those with higher counts. In conclusion, the occurrence of oral lesions, especially OHL and oral candidiasis, is fairly common in Taiwanese HIV-infected patients.