Geoepidemiological big data approach to sarcoidosis: geographical and ethnic determinants.

Geoepidemiological big data approach to sarcoidosis: geographical and ethnic determinants. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2019 Aug 26; Authors: Brito-Zerón P, Kostov B, Superville D, Baughman RP, Ramos-Casals M, Autoimmune Big Data Study Group Abstract In sarcoidosis, a rare multiorgan disease of unknown aetiology characterised by non-caseating epitheloid cell granulomas, three geoepidemiological factors are major aetiopathogenic factors: geolocation, ethnicity, and personal environment. Geographically, sarcoidosis is mainly reported in the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest incidence rates uniformly reported in countries located at the highest latitudes. The main geoepidemiological-driven differences across the world are of greater female involvement in Southern Europe, the Southern US and Japan, a differentiated radiological pattern (predominance of stage I in Southern Europe and Middle East/Asia and of stage II in Northern Europe, China and India, with the US and Japan having the highest frequencies of stages III/IV) and the extrathoracic phenotype: the most frequent extrathoracic organs involved are the skin in Southern Europe and Middle East/Asia, the eyes in Northern Europe, Northeast US and Japan, the liver in India and the lymph nodes in China. In addition, there are large ethnicity-driven variations in the frequency, epidemiology, clinical expression and outcome of sarcoidosis. The highest incidence rates are uniformly reported in ...
Source: Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Tags: Clin Exp Rheumatol Source Type: research