PO2 - Epidemiology of Sarcoidosis in the United States: Prevalence, Incidence, and Comorbidity Burden
Yanni Fan (United States)1; Haikun Bao (United States)1; Catherine Allende (United States)2; Alexandra Z. Sosinsky (United States)3; Ann Chauffe (United States)1; Madhu Kanakapura (Germany)4; Prethibha George (United States)1; Elizabeth Volkmann (United States)5; Divya Patel (Germany)6;
1 - Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, CT, United States of America; 2 - Genesis Research Group, Epidemiology, Hoboken, NJ, United States of America; 3 - Genesis Research Group, Pharmacoepidemiology & Safety, Hoboken, NJ, United States of America; 4 - Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medical Affairs, Ingelheim, Germany; 5 - University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America; 6 - Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH;
Keywords: Sarcoidosis; Epidemiology; Comorbidity Burden;
Select the theme: Genetics and Immunopathology: Advances in Contemporary Understanding and Prospects for Future Research
Type: Original Papers
Presentation: Poster Presentation

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is a multisystem disease defined by noncaseating granuloma formation, most frequently in the lungs and thoracic lymph nodes. Despite its clinical impact, real-world epidemiologic characterization remains limited constraining understanding of the population level impact of sarcoidosis in the United States (US).

Objectives: We estimated the prevalence and incidence rates of sarcoidosis to enhance understanding of its epidemiology. 

Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from Optum Clinformatics® Data Mart (2016–2023). Sarcoidosis cases were defined using ≥1 inpatient diagnosis claim or ≥2 outpatient claims ≤12 months apart. Prevalent cases included all eligible patients during baseline or follow up; incident cases required no prior sarcoidosis diagnosis at baseline. Estimates were generated overall and across subgroups (age, sex, race/ethnicity, calendar year, payer type, US region). Adjusted rates applied 2023 US census weights to crude age sex strata. Comorbidity burden was evaluated using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and prevalence of individual comorbidities compared to age, gender and diagnosis year/month-matched controls without sarcoidosis.

Results: Among 32,153,317 eligible enrollees, 35,457 individuals met criteria for prevalent sarcoidosis and 16,105 for incident sarcoidosis cases. The adjusted prevalence and incidence rate (95% CI) were 91.78 (88.73–95.01) per 100,000 persons, and 15.54 (15.28–15.80) per 100,000 person-years, respectively. Crude prevalence and incidence rates were both higher among females. Crude prevalence was highest among individuals aged 65–74 years, while the crude incidence rate peaked among individuals aged 50–64 years (Table 1). Incident sarcoidosis cases (n=16,063) had higher comorbidity burden, with 28.24% of cases having a CCI ≥3 compared to 13.33% of controls (Table 2).

Conclusions: In this large US cohort, sarcoidosis prevalence and incidence rates varied by age and sex, and patients with incident disease showed higher comorbidity burden than matched controls, underscoring the substantial clinical and epidemiologic impact of sarcoidosis in the US.

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