Course and prognosis of sarcoidosis

• Published in: The American journal of medicine Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 84 - 93
• Main Authors: Sones, Maurice, Israel, Harold L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.1960
• Subjects: Humans; Old Medline; Prognosis; Sarcoidosis - statistics & numerical data; SARCOIDOSIS/statistics
• ISSN: 0002-9343; 1555-7162
• DOI: 10.1016/0002-9343(60)90009-7

1. 1. Observations are presented on the course of sarcoidosis in 211 patients, 184 Negroes and twenty-seven Caucasians, observed in Philadelphia for as long as twenty years, with a mean interval of 5.9 years. 2. 2. Survival rates, calculated by the life table method, were 88.8 per cent after 5 years of observation and 84.8 per cent after ten years of observation. Comparison with the life expectancy of normal persons similar in age, sex and race indicates a considerable diminution of survival as the result of sarcoidosis. 3. 3. Complete recovery was observed in 34.6 per cent and improvement in 31.8 per cent, while in 16.1 per cent the condition became worse. The mortality rate was 9.5 per cent, with sixteen deaths due to sarcoidosis, three to tuberculosis, and one to incidental disease. In four other patients tuberculosis developed, one of whom was among the ninety-three patients treated with corticosteroids. In only two instances was recurrence of sarcoidosis observed. 4. 4. The incidence of erythema nodosum was much less frequent than reported in English and Scandinavian studies, and clearing of mediastinal adenopathy occurred less often and less rapidly than in these two countries. With these exceptions, the course of sarcoidosis appears to be similar in Philadelphia and in Northern Europe. 5. 5. Although the prognosis appears to be less favorable in Negro patients and in those patients with many systems involved, analysis indicates that cutaneous involvement is the feature most closely associated with progressive and fatal sarcoidosis.