Neighbourhood disadvantage impacts on pulmonary function in patients with sarcoidosis

What is it about?

Sarcoidosis is a disease that can affect multiple organ systems including the lungs, where patients can experience progressive involvement with lung scarring, shortness of breath, and functional limitation. Social factors like low income, Black race, and female sex are associated with worse outcomes in patients with sarcoidosis, but the impact of neighbourhood-level socioeconomic factors on these patients has not been explored. In this study of patients with sarcoidosis from the United States (U.S.) and Canada, we found that patients who lived in neighbourhoods with high levels of material and social disadvantage presented to pulmonary specialists with more severe lung disease at baseline, and that they also experienced more rapid worsening of their lung function over time. These findings were present in both U.S. and Canadian patients. These findings warrant further investigation of the impact of neighbourhood-level factors on outcomes in patients with other chronic respiratory diseases and patients with sarcoidosis from other countries throughout the world.

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