Quality of life and health status in sarcoidosis: a review.

The aim of this review is to provide information on the influence of sarcoidosis on patients' quality of life (QOL) and health status (HS), a related concept. A search in the PubMed database was performed with the key words SARCOIDOSIS and HEALTH STATUS and SARCOIDOSIS and QUALITY OF LIFE. After removing double hits, reviews, articles written in a language other than English or Dutch, guidelines, articles focusing on questionnaire development or validation, and articles in which QOL or HS was not assessed, 28 articles were left for inclusion in the present review. The HS and QOL of sarcoidosis patients is negatively affected by the disease. Symptoms have an additional negative impact on patients' lives. Sarcoidosis has a substantial impact on patients' HS and QOL. Present observational studies all have a cross-sectional design. Prospective longitudinal follow-up studies are lacking, which makes inferences about cause and consequences difficult.