Elderly-onset sarcoidosis: A single center comparative study

Sarcoidosis rarely affect patients older than 65 years old. The purpose of this study is to compare and evaluate the demographic, clinical and laboratory features of elderly-onset (EOS) and young-onset sarcoidosis (YOS) patients.

One hundred and thirty one patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis according to clinical, radiologic and histopathological evaluation were included in this study. The patients with initial symptoms started after age 65 were accepted as EOS.

Twenty (15.3%) of 131 patients were diagnosed as EOS, and 111 (84.7%) patients were evaluated as YOS. Fifteen of 20 EOS patients were female and 5 of them were male. Average duration of the disease was determined as 38.4 months for YOS and 22.5 months for EOS (p=0.556). Delay of the diagnosis was 12 months for YOS while it was 3 months for EOS (p=0.001). Higher rates of fatique, comorbid diseases and more hydroxychloroquine (HQ) use were detected in EOS patients comparing to YOS (p=0.010, p=0.003 and p=0.039 respectively).

EOS patients are characterized with higher rates of fatique and comorbid diseases, less inflammatory sign and delayed diagnosis, and less DMARDs use.