Association of spondyloarthritis and sarcoidosis: A retrospective observational population-based matched cohort study

To investigate the association between spondyloarthritis (SpA) and sarcoidosis.

An observational retrospective population-based matched cohort study was conducted. Using data from the Spanish Minimum Basic Data Set. All the admissions of patients with SpA reported between 1999 and 2015 were analysed and a control group matched by age, sex and year of admission was selected. Crude and age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates for sarcoidosis were calculated. Generalized linear models were used for trend analysis and unconditional logistic regression models for calculating crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) to assess the association between sarcoidosis and SpA.

The study database contained data on 214,280 hospitalisations: 107,140 admissions of patients with SpA and 107,140 of patients without SpA. Overall, 220 of the admissions were of patients with sarcoidosis: 133 (0.12%) in the SpA group and 87 (0.08%) in the non-SpA group (P<0.05). The incidence rates of sarcoidosis were 2.68 and 1.64 per 100,000 per year in the SpA and non-SpA groups, respectively. The trend was similar in the two cohorts. Regarding potential associations between SpA and sarcoidosis, the crude and adjusted ORs were 1.52 (95% CI: 1.16-2.01) and 1.50 (95% CI: 1.14-1.97) overall in patients with SpA, with adjusted ORs of 1.42 (95% CI: 1.03-1.94) and 1.81 (95% CI: 1.29-2.55) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, respectively.

There is a relationship that is not due to chance between sarcoidosis and SpA and specifically that sarcoidosis is significantly associated with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis.