Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with joint involvement and acute/chronic sarcoidosis.
| Characteristics |
All patients N = 39 |
Acute sarcoidosis N = 19 |
Chronic sarcoidosis N = 20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years), medians [ranges] | 38 [23–70] | 34.5 [23–70] | 42 [25–65] |
| Female sex (n;%) | 25 (64) | 13 (68) | 12 (60) |
| Caucasians (n;%) | 19 (48.7) | 12 (63) | 7 (35)* |
| Extra-articular involvement | |||
| Skin involvement (n;%) | 22 (56) | 17 (89) | 5 (25)* |
| Ocular involvement (n;%) | 4 (10) | 0 | 4 (20)* |
| Hilar and mediastinal adenopathies (n;%) Lung involvement (n;%) |
19 (49) 32 (82) |
8 (42) 16 (84) |
11 (55)* 16 (80) |
| Heart involvement (n;%) CNS involvement (n;%) |
2 (5) 1 (2.5) |
0 0 |
2 (10) 1 (5) |
| Joint involvement | |||
| Symmetrical (n;%) Wrist (n;%) Ankles (n;%) Metacarpo-phalangeal (n;%) Knees (n;%) |
33 (85) 18 (46) 32 (82) 12 (31) 16 (41) |
19 (100) 5 (26) 17 (89) 4 (21) 6 (32) |
14 (70)* 10 (50)* 13 (65)* 6 (30) 10 (50) |
| Tender joints medians [ranges] | 6 [1–28] | 4 [2–28] | 6 [1–12] |
| Swollen joints medians [ranges] | 2 [1–6] | 2 [1–4] | 2 [1–6] |
| DAS 44-CRP medians [ranges] | 3.4 [2.3–5.9] | 3.7 [2.3–5.9] | 3.4 [2.3–3.5] |
| Laboratory data | |||
| Lymphocytes (G/l) medians [ranges] | 1.410 [0.66–3.35] | 1.8 [0.66–2.50] | 1.11 [0.71–3.35] |
| Gammaglobulins (g/l) medians [ranges] | 11.6 [7.5–24.7] | 11.4 [7.5–13.3] | 12.3 [7.8–24.7] |
| Calcium levels (mg/l) medians [ranges] | 2.34 [2.16–2.57] | 2.3 [2.16–2.53] | 2.36 [2.26–2.57] |
| ACE (UI/l) medians [ranges] | 65 [21.2–300] | 55 [21.20–111] | 76.5 [36–300] |
| First line treatments | 34 (87) | 17 (89) | 17 (85) |
| NSAIDs alone (n;%) | 15 (38) | 10 (53) | 5 (25)* |
| Steroids alone (n;%) | 9 (23) | 4 (21) | 5 (25) |
| Hydroxychloroquine (n;%) With NSAIDs With steroids |
4 (10) 3 (7.5) 0 |
2 (10) 2 (10) 0 |
2 (10) 1 (5) 0 |
| Methotrexate (n;%) With NSAIDs With steroids |
4 (10) 1 (2.5) 2 (5) |
1 (5) 1 (5) 0 |
3 (15) 0 2 (10) |
| TNF inhibitors (n;%) With steroids |
2 (5) | 0 0 |
5 (25) 5 (10) |
| Follow-up (months) medians [ranges] | 18 [3–264] | 20.5 [3–57] | 62.5 [3–264]* |
Values are medians with interquartiles and numbers with frequencies.
*
p < 0.05.
ACPA, anti Citrullinated Peptide antibodies; ANA, anti-nuclear antibodies; CRP, C-reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte-sedimentation rate; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories; RF, rheumatoid factor.