TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing the worldwide epidemiology of sarcoidosis: challenges and future directions JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1545 LP - 1548 DO - 10.1183/13993003.01819-2016 VL - 48 IS - 6 AU - Yvette C. Cozier Y1 - 2016/12/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/48/6/1545.abstract N2 - Sarcoidosis is a chronic systemic disorder characterised by granulomatous inflammation targeted to an as-yet-unidentified antigen [1]. First described over 100 years ago by Caesar Boeck and others [2], sarcoidosis occurs worldwide and affects men and women of all ages and races [3–5]. The disease shows a consistent predilection for adults, with peak incidence occurring primarily before 40 years of age [3–6], although older age at onset has been widely reported [7–10]. Clinical presentation of sarcoidosis can be quite variable [11, 12], ranging from asymptomatic disease [3, 4], or acute onset with resolution [13, 14], while other patients experience chronic progressive illness affecting various organ systems and requiring systemic therapy [13–15]. Pulmonary disease affects the vast majority of diagnosed patients, but other organ systems are often affected as well [3, 4, 6]. Chronic progressive disease may require long-term treatment with corticosteroids, cytotoxics and other agents that have serious side-effects [3, 16, 17]. The lifetime risk of death is estimated to be between 1.0% and 7.6% [17, 18], with deaths attributed to respiratory, neurological or cardiovascular system involvement [19, 20].Population-based studies reveal higher sarcoidosis morbidity and earlier mortality among males http://ow.ly/PcWr304uAKc ER -