The prognosis of sarcoidosis in children.

Of 28 children with sarcoidosis, who have a mean follow-up period of approximately nine years, five (18 percent) have sustained severe damage from the disease. Two of these patients suffer from blindness, and three others have severe restrictive pulmonary disease. There has so far been no fatality. The presence of cutaneous lesions suggests a guarded prognosis, but the effectiveness of corticosteroid therapy cannot be accurately determined. The degree of pulmonary involvement evident on the chest x-ray film at the time of diagnosis is not always indicative of the ultimate prognosis.