Sarcoidosis (cont.)
Who gets sarcoidosis?
Sarcoidosis was once considered a rare disease. We now know
that it is a common chronic illness that appears all over the world. Indeed, it is the most common of the scarring lung disorders and occurs often
enough in the United States for Congress to have declared a national Sarcoidosis Awareness Day in 1990.
Anyone can get sarcoidosis. It occurs in all races and in both
sexes. Nevertheless, the risk is greater if you are a young black
adult, especially a black woman, or of Scandinavian, German, Irish, or
Puerto Rican origin. No one knows why.
Because sarcoidosis can escape diagnosis or be mistaken for
several other diseases, we can only guess at how many people are
affected. The best estimate today is that about five in 100,000 white people in
the United States have sarcoidosis. Among black people, it occurs more
frequently, in probably 40 out of 100,000 people. Overall, there appear to be
20 cases per 100,000 in cities on the East Coast and somewhat fewer in
rural locations. Some scientists, however, believe that these figures
greatly underestimated the percentage of the U.S. population with sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis mainly affects people between 20 to 40 years
of age. White women are just as likely as white men to get sarcoidosis, but the
black female gets sarcoidosis two times as often as the black male.
No one knows what causes sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis also appears to be more common and more
severe in certain geographic areas. It has long been recognized as a common
disease in Scandinavian countries, where it is estimated to affect 64 out
of 100,000 people. But it was not until the mid '40s, when a large number
of cases were identified during mass chest x-ray screening for the Armed Forces, that its high prevalence was recognized in North America.
Next: What we know about sarcoidosis »
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