Title

Clinical profile, associated risk factors and oral health-related quality of life in recurrent aphthous stomatitis: A cross-sectional study

Authors

Ashutosh Pandey¹, Preeti Rajguru², Sweety Kumari³, Prerna Soni^4,*, Anjana Bharti⁵ & Ganiga Channaiah Shivakumar⁶

Affiliation

¹Department of Dentistry, Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital, Gaya, Bihar, India; ²Dental Officer, ECHS Samastipur, Bihar, India; ³Dental Officer ECHS Khagaria, Bihar, India; ⁴Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Prakhar Pragya Dental Clinic, Lakhisarai, Bihar, India; ⁵Department of Public Health Dentistry, Mithila Minority Dental College and Hospital, Darbhanga, Bihar, India; ⁶Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, People's College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, People's University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Ashutosh Pandey - E-mail: ashuanand289@gmail.com
Preeti Rajguru - E-mail: preetirajguru1@gmail.com
Sweety Kumari - E-mail: drsweetylohani@gmail.com
Prerna Soni - E-mail: prernasoni1208@gmail.com
Anjana Bharti - E-mail: anjanabharti199@gmail.com
Ganiga Channaiah Shivakumar - E-mail: shivakumar@peoplesuniversity.edu.in

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received August 1, 2026; Revised August 31, 2026; Accepted August 31, 2026, Published August 31, 2026

Abstract

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is the most prevalent ulcerating condition of the mouth mucosa. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the clinical profile and distribution of RAS subtypes and determine risk factors which are associated with disease severity as well as its effect on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Psychological stress (adjusted OR = 3.42, 95%CI = 1.24-9.43, p = 0.018) and haematinic deficiency (adjusted OR = 2.96, 95%CI = 1.02-8.59, p = 0.046) were independently associated with moderate and severe RAS and their OHIP-14 scores showed a significant increase with increasing severity (Mild: 9.1 ± 4.2, Moderate: 16.8 ± 5.6, Severe: 24.3 ± 6.1; ANOVA p < 0.001). Thus, RAS in this population was mainly minor, predominantly occurred in young females with psychological stress. Moreover, haematinic deficiency and it is the independent factors predicting severity and poor OHRQoL.

Keywords

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS); aphthous ulcer; oral ulcer; cross-sectional study; risk factors; quality of life; OHIP 14; oral medicine.

Citation

Pandey et al. Bioinformation 22(8): 5250-5256 (2026)

Edited by

Vini Mehta

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.