Association of selected non-communicable diseases with HSV positivity in a subset of a group of oral fibroepithelial polyp patients in Sri Lanka: preliminary findings

Abstract The relationship between noncommunicable diseases and the presence of HSV-DNA in oral epithelial cells remains largely unexplored. The research focused on a subset of male patients with oral fibroepithelial polyps (FEP) in Sri Lanka. We retrieved data from 25 out of 29 oral fibroepithelial polyps across nine oro-maxillofacial units in six provinces of Sri Lanka to determine any association between the presence of Herpes simplex virus (HSV) DNA and the selected non–communicable diseases, using the SPSS-21 statistical package for data analysis. We employed Fisher’s exact test for comparing groups with cell counts of less than five, specifically to examine the HPV-DNA status of T2DM. The results indicated a statistically significant association between T2DM and HSV positivity; however, no significant associations were found with hypertension or periodontal diseases. The findings from this retrospective study should be further investigated to validate the results and assess their implications with a larger sample size and controlling for confounders.