Clinical characteristics and computed tomography findings in Arab patients diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Sarcoidosis is prevalent worldwide with significant heterogeneity across different ethnic groups. We aimed To describe the clinical characteristics and computed tomography findings among Arab patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. METHODS: A retrospective study of patient demographics, symptoms, co-morbid illness, sarcoidosis stage, treatment, pulmonary function and CT results. RESULTS: Of 104 patients, most (77%) were 40 years of age or older at diagnosis, and females in this category (≥40 years) significantly outnumbered male patients (69/104 (66.3%) vs. 35/104 (33.7%), P=.003). The most common complaints were dyspnea (76%), cough (72.1%) and weight loss (32.7%). The majority of patients displayed impairment in lung function parameters at presentation. However, significant impairment in forced vital capacity, percentage predicted (FVC%) (<50%) was present in only 17% of patients. The most frequent CT finding was mediastinal lymph node enlargement in 49 patients (73.1%). Parenchymal abnormalities indicating lung fibrosis were noted in 31 patients (46.3%), and traction bronchiectasis was the most common (35.8%) fibrotic pattern detected on CT scans. CONCLUSION: At presentation, clinical manifestations of sarcoidosis among this sample of Arab patients were similar to reports from other nations. Further studies are needed to explore the effects of race and ethnicity on disease severity in the Middle East.