title: Racial difference in sarcoidosis mortality in the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The clinical presentation and outcome of sarcoidosis varies by race. However, the race difference in mortality outcome remains largely unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied mortality related to sarcoidosis from 1999 through 2010 by examining data on multiple causes of death from the National Center for Health Statistics. We compared the comorbid conditions between sarcoidosis-related deaths with deaths caused by car accidents (previously healthy control subjects) and rheumatoid arthritis (chronic disease control subjects) in both African Americans and Caucasians.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 1999 through 2010, sarcoidosis was reported as an immediate cause of death in 10,348 people in the United States with a combined overall mean age-adjusted mortality rate of 2.8 per 1 million person-years. Of these, 6,285 were African American and 3,984 Caucasian. The age-adjusted mortality rate for African Americans was 12 times higher than for Caucasians. African Americans died at an earlier age than Caucasians. African Americans living in the District of Columbia and North Carolina and Caucasians living in Vermont had higher mortality rates. Although the total sarcoidosis age-adjusted mortality rate had not changed over the 12 year period studied, this rate increased for Caucasians (R = 0.747, P = .005) but not for African Americans. Compared with the control groups, pulmonary hypertension was significantly more common in individuals with sarcoidosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This nationwide population-based study exposes a significant difference in ethnicity and sex among people dying of sarcoidosis in the United States. Pulmonary hypertension investigation should be considered in all patients with sarcoidosis, especially African Americans.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL. Electronic address: mmirsae@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirsaeidi
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Roberto F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schraufnagel
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL.
authors.forename: Nadera J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Sweiss
authors.affiliation: Interstitial Lung Disease and Sarcoidosis Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Baughman
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017565:Sarcoidosis, Pulmonary / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult