SARCOIDOSIS: ONCE RARE DISEASE AFFECTS BLACK WOMEN MORE

Sheron Williams was 27 years old, attending college full-time, in a theatre production and working two jobs on campus when she was first diagnosed.

“I would have mystery illnesses and I would simply push through it,” Williams says. “I just thought I was running myself down.”

Twenty-five years ago, Williams found out it was more than that. On that day, she was told that her watering eyes, vision problems, leg swelling, fatigue and rashes were actually due to a disease called sarcoidosis.

A disease with no known cause

Sarcoidosis is a disease of unknown origin that causes the immune system to overreact, leading to lung damage, skin rashes and other organ damage. This once rare disease now affects 200,000 peoplein the United States.

“The cause or causes of sarcoidosis are not clear, but most experts agree that sarcoidosis is caused by an environmental exposure, most often transmitted to the lungs,” explains Dr. Elliott D. Crouser, a lung specialist with The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who treats sarcoidosis, and a spokesperson for the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research.

He adds that, in sarcoidosis, this exposure causes clusters of immune cells, called granulomas, to form in the lungs or other organs. Symptoms can also come and go on its own, without treatment.

Sarcoidosis affects Black women disproportionately, with studies like the Black Women’s Health Studyconfirming this finding and highlighting the need to address health disparities in sarcoidosis. It is not well understood why African-American women are more affected.

“It is clear that much more research needs to be done to understand sarcoidosis in Black women,” says Crouser.

Sheron with the State of Michigan Sarcoidosis Awareness Month proclamation.

The disease also affects women more than men, and people between the ages of 20 and 50 years of age more than other age groups.

Black Americans also have a more severe disease presentation, says Crouser. In Williams’ case, her symptoms progressed in just under a year to where she couldn’t swallow liquids or her own saliva, and …

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