Prevalence and Psychological Stress in Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis Among Female Dental Students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

IntroductionRecurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is a common oral mucosal disorder which is characterized by recurrent ulcerations mainly confined to non-keratinized oral mucosa. Though the exact etiology is imprecise, stress and anxiety were found to be linked with the onset of RAS. The present study was directed to know the prevalence of RAS among female dental students in King Khalid University, to find out the association between RAS and psychological stress and the effectiveness of Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) in finding out the psychological profile of RAS patients.Method122 female dental students of age group 17 to 25 years were selected for the study. Subjects with relevant medical problems and deleterious habits were excluded. A questionnaire comprising general stress related questions and HAD scale were used to assess stress. Those who were giving history of ulcer were diagnosed as RAS based on the clinical features. The questionnaire results were used for statistical analysis and processed.Result14% of the total students were having RAS. 70% could correlate the onset of ulcer with certain specific factors; stress being the major causative agent (91%). In HAD scale, 88% of students were having anxiety and 65% had depression; all patients with depression had anxiety.ConclusionThe prevalence of RAS in female dental students in KKU was around 14%. There is a strong relationship between psychological stress and RAS, as in most of the other studies. HAD scale alone can be used for detecting the psychological factor in RAS.

Prevalence of Psychosomatic Disorders Among Dental Students with Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis. A Cross-Sectional Study.

“…The highest rates of anxiety disorder among patients with RAS was reported by Ajmal et.al. 16 They reported 88% of the female dental students were suffering from anxiety, which was far off distant compared with the nding of this study. Notably, a study from Croatia registered the lowest prevalence of anxiety, 26.5%.…”

“…Incidence of depression among dental students in this study was high (62.5%). The prevalence of depression among patients with RAS had also been discussed 16,17,18 . Ajmal et.al.…”

“…Ajmal et.al. 16 published "Prevalence and Psychological Stress in Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis among Female Dental Students in Saudi Arabia." and analyzed depression and anxiety of dental students using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire.…”

“…[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The highest incidence of stress among patients with RAS was recorded by Ajmal et.al. 16 They reported that 90% of patients with RAS were exposed to stress. The present paper is in agreement with Gavic et.al.…”

Relationship between dietary factors and recurrent aphthous stomatitis: A cross-sectional study

“…In this cross-sectional study, we explored the distribution of RAS, dietary factors, self-reported trigger factors, and therapeutic methods among a study population from Nanjing and reported a prevalence of 21.4% in accordance with the literature [14,24,25]. Moreover, less than half (72, 44.7%) of them had ever received treatment for RAS, which was lower than the percentage reported in another study [21,26], and nearly one-third participants who have ever treated RAS mainly use ATs instead of conventional medicine, despite a lack of randomized controlled trials to prove the effectiveness and safety of these ATs.…”