13-10-550-556 – HEALTH-AFFAIRS

Volume 13 Issue 10

Correlation between Burning Mouth Syndrome and Psychological Stress: A Cross-Sectional Study

¹Dr Zamin Abbas, ²Dr Umar Tipu, ³Obaidullah Khan, ⁴Dr Shikoh Naz, ⁵Dr Nazneen Tabassum, ⁶Haroon Raja

¹Assistant Professor, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar
²Assistant Professor, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad
³Senior Registrar, Oral Medicine and Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Karachi
⁴Associate Professor, Hamdard University Dental Hospital, Department of Community Dentistry
⁵Associate Professor, Hope Family Clinic, Faisalabad
⁶Associate Professor, Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad

ABSTRACT:

Background: Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) had been identified as a persistent pain disease that is a burning of oral mucosa in the absence of any lesions or medical explanation. There was a multifactorial etiology of BMS and it is emerging that the issue is closely linked to psychological factors, including stress, anxiety and depression. The connectedness between BMS and psychological stress had been comprehended as a key to the establishment of appropriate management strategies.

Aim: The proposed research was an attempt to assess the relationship between Burning Mouth Syndrome and psychological stress among patients visiting the outpatient department of Mayo Hospital, Lahore.

Methods: it was a cross-sectional study done at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, in May 2024-April 2025. A total of 90 BMS clinically diagnosed participants were taken. A structured questionnaire was used to gather the data that included demographic, symptom characterization, and stress levels based on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The statistical analysis was conducted with the help of the Pearson correlation test to conclude about the correlation between the severity of BMS and the level of psychological stress.

Results: The results showed that 68.9 percent of the respondents had moderate and high levels of stress. It was found that there was significant positive relationship between BMS severity and Bayesian stress scores (r = 0.67, p < 0.001) and this indicates that patients who were more stressed had greater intensity of burning sensations. Also, the prevalence of BMS symptoms was high in female participants and patients aged 40–60 years compared to other cohorts.

Conclusion: The research came to the conclusion that psychological stress was strongly related to that of Burning Mouth Syndrome. These observations highlighted the need to consider psychological evaluation and stress coping interventions as part of the treatment regimen of BMS patients to enhance the overall outcomes and quality of life.

Keywords: Burning Mouth Syndrome, Psychological Stress, Oral Pain, Anxiety, Depression, Cross-Sectional Study, Mayo Hospital Lahore.

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Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief
Liam A. Phillips, California, Los Angeles

Associate Editors
Andrew Adler, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, The Brookings Institution
Lucas F. Figueroa, Univercity of California, Lesley
Sidra Hamad, California, Los Angeles
Nicholas Hernandez, University of California, Merced
Vimon F. Haeder, Texas A&M University
Forrin Moucheraud, University of California, Los Angeles
kayeh Nikpay, University of Minnesota