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. 2015 Feb;147(2):438-449.
doi: 10.1378/chest.14-1120.

Racial difference in sarcoidosis mortality in the United States

Mehdi Mirsaeidi  1 , Roberto F Machado  2 , Dean Schraufnagel  2 , Nadera J Sweiss  3 , Robert P Baughman  4
Affiliations

Racial difference in sarcoidosis mortality in the United States

Mehdi Mirsaeidi et al. Chest. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Background: The clinical presentation and outcome of sarcoidosis varies by race. However, the race difference in mortality outcome remains largely unknown.

Methods: We studied mortality related to sarcoidosis from 1999 through 2010 by examining data on multiple causes of death from the National Center for Health Statistics. We compared the comorbid conditions between sarcoidosis-related deaths with deaths caused by car accidents (previously healthy control subjects) and rheumatoid arthritis (chronic disease control subjects) in both African Americans and Caucasians.

Results: From 1999 through 2010, sarcoidosis was reported as an immediate cause of death in 10,348 people in the United States with a combined overall mean age-adjusted mortality rate of 2.8 per 1 million person-years. Of these, 6,285 were African American and 3,984 Caucasian. The age-adjusted mortality rate for African Americans was 12 times higher than for Caucasians. African Americans died at an earlier age than Caucasians. African Americans living in the District of Columbia and North Carolina and Caucasians living in Vermont had higher mortality rates. Although the total sarcoidosis age-adjusted mortality rate had not changed over the 12 year period studied, this rate increased for Caucasians (R = 0.747, P = .005) but not for African Americans. Compared with the control groups, pulmonary hypertension was significantly more common in individuals with sarcoidosis.

Conclusions: This nationwide population-based study exposes a significant difference in ethnicity and sex among people dying of sarcoidosis in the United States. Pulmonary hypertension investigation should be considered in all patients with sarcoidosis, especially African Americans.

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Figures

Figure 1 –
Figure 1 –
Total age-adjusted rate of sarcoidosis-related deaths in the United States, 1999 to 2010.
Figure 2 –
Figure 2 –
Age-adjusted rate per 1 million stratified per race and age-group in the United States, 1999 to 2010.
Figure 3 –
Figure 3 –
Age-adjusted rate of sarcoidosis-related deaths in Caucasians in the United States, 1999 to 2010.
Figure 4 –
Figure 4 –
Age-adjusted mortality rates per 1 million person-years in non-Hispanic Caucasian decedents with sarcoidosis by state, United States, 1999 to 2010.
Figure 5 –
Figure 5 –
Age-adjusted mortality rates per 1 million person-years in non-Hispanic African American decedents with sarcoidosis by state, United States, 1999 to 2010.
Figure 6 –
Figure 6 –
Multiple cause of death in Caucasians and African Americans with sarcoidosis in the United States, 1999 to 2010.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Mortality vs case fatality in the assessment of sarcoidosis lethality.
    Reich JM. Reich JM. Chest. 2015 Feb;147(2):e65. doi: 10.1378/chest.14-2444. Chest. 2015. PMID: 25644925 No abstract available.
  • Response.
    Mirsaeidi M, Machado RF, Schraufnagel D, Sweiss NJ, Baughman RP. Mirsaeidi M, et al. Chest. 2015 Feb;147(2):e65-e66. doi: 10.1378/chest.14-2603. Chest. 2015. PMID: 25644926 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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