Sarcoidosis
Who Gets Sarcoidosis in the General Population?
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 are 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 people are affected. The
best estimate today is that about 5 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 underestimate 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
black women get sarcoidosis twice as often as black men.
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 is was not until the mid-1940's 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.
Although sarcoidosis can rarely occur in families, there is no
evidence that sarcoidosis is passed from parents to children.
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