Sarcoidosis in the United States--1968 to 1984. Hospitalization and death.

In order to provide national data on the epidemiology of sarcoidosis in the United States, data from the National Center for Health Statistics were examined for the period 1968 to 1984. Sarcoidosis appeared among the diagnoses of over 20,000 hospital discharges in recent years. It was mentioned on 605 death certificates in 1982, and as underlying cause of death on 339.In blacks, rates of hospital discharge with the diagnosis were eight times those of whites in 1981, and death rates were 20 times those of whites at ages 15 to 44 years. Women had higher rates than men. Both hospitalization and mortality data may give distorted pictures of this frequently mild or asymptomatic condition. Furthermore, no information was available on the percentage of diagnoses confirmed by biopsy, or on severity of disease in hospitalized patients.Race-specific hospital discharge rates must be interpreted with caution in this survey. Nevertheless, patterns were generally consistent with studies of prevalence and incidence. Further descriptive and analytic studies of the epidemiology of sarcoidosis are needed to help identify modifiable risk factors and possible causes.