[Epidemiology of sarcoidosis and its genetic and environmental risk factors].
OBJECTIVE
Review of the literature on epidemiologic data of sarcoidosis and risk factors.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiological data show that sarcoidosis is a world-wide disease. Frequency is influenced by multiple predisposition factors. The most important are racial factor, sex, age, familial aggregation, genetic factor and/or infective agent. One of these is insufficiency.


CONCLUSIONS
Patent sarcoidosis is revealed when concomitant environmental factors (infective agent, climate, country) and predisposition ones (race, sex familial aggregation) appear together and inducing, in each patient, a particular sarcoidosis.
Chapelon-Abric
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Service de médecine interne II, CHU de la Pitié-Salpétrière, 47-83, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris cedex 13, France. catherine.chapelon@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002980:Climate; D004777:Environment; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D012307:Risk Factors; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D012737:Sex Factors