Epidemiology of Sarcoidosis in the Precarpathian region of Ukraine

Despite considerable advances in modern medicine, it must be admitted that sarcoidosis is still a disease with unknown etiology, hardly predictable clinical course and, as a result, it is characterized by a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to patient management. We have studied the morbidity and prevalence rates of sarcoidosis of respiratory organs in Precarpathian region for a 5-year period on the basis of information provided by district and city pulmonologists, phthisiologists and general practitioners for the period of 2011-2015. The incidence of sarcoidosis in Precarpathian region is on average 2.8 new cases per 100 thousand adults per year, which exceeds the corresponding indices not only in the southern (1.1 per 100 thousand adults), but also in the northern (2.6 per 100 thousand) regions of Ukraine. The prevalence of active sarcoidosis reaches 5.0 cases per 100,000 people; the disease incidence in the north of the region is 1.5 times higher as compared with the southern regions. In the territories with increased man-made load the mortality rate is 2.5 times higher than the average index registered in the region, while the prevalence rate is 1.9 times higher, correspondingly. Summing up the results of the study it may be concluded that sarcoidosis has long ceased to be a rare disease and the morbidity and prevalence rates of this ailment depend on geographical and environmental factors.