Clinical characteristics of sarcoidosis patients in Belgium

Sarcoidosis is a non-caseating granulomatous disease, mostly affecting previously healthy persons in their fourth and fifth decade. In Belgium, there is a paucity of epidemiological data concerning sarcoidosis and it is unknown to what respect national data on sarcoidosis relates to the global epidemiology of the disease.

In this cohort study we describe the patient population in an academic center of reference, serving both as a regional care center and a center for a tertiary referral.

We collected epidemiological data among 234 consecutive patients consulting the outpatient sarcoidosis clinic during a two-year time period. We manually explored the electronic patient file for data retrieval.

Out of the 234 patients, 140 are male (60%) and 94 are female (40%) patients. Forced vital capacity showed a median decline of 2% during follow-up, whereas median diffusion capacity increased with 4% over the same period of time. Within our study cohort, we observed a preponderance in employment as construction workers (14%), the chemical industry (6%) and in the metal processing industry (6%).

The current study reports on epidemiological findings among the largest cohort of sarcoidosis patients in Belgium published to date.

Graphical abstract [Figure: see text].