Association between sarcoidosis and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Background: Sarcoidosis is multisystem inflammatory granulomatosis that can potentially affect any organ of the human body. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in sarcoidosis patients and determine the association between sarcoidosis and DM.Method: All relevant articles reporting the prevalence of DM in sarcoidosis published until September 19^th, 2020, were retrieved from ten electronic databases. We used the random effect model to perform the meta-analysis.Results: After screening 2,122 records, we included 19 studies (n = 18,686,162). The prevalence of DM in sarcoidosis patients was 12.7% (95% CI 10–16.1). The prevalence was highest in North America with 21.3% (13.5–31.8), followed by Europe 10.4 (7.9–13.7) and Asia 10% (1.8–39.7). Sarcoidosis patients had higher rates of DM compared to controls (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.49–2.05). Sensitivity analysis, after removing the largest weighted study, did not reveal any effect on the significance of the results (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.33–2.25).Conclusion: The prevalence of DM in sarcoidosis is considerably high, with increased odds of DM in sarcoidosis compared to healthy controls. Further research with a wide range of confounders is required to confirm the association of sarcoidosis with DM.

KEYWORDS:

• Sarcoidosis
• diabetes mellitus
• meta-analysis

View addendum:

Multiple etiologies explain the association between sarcoidosis and diabetes mellitus

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Article highlights

• Sarcoidosis is a multisystem inflammatory granulomatous disease

• 12.7% of sarcoidosis patients have diabetes mellitus

• Sarcoidosis is associated with diabetes mellitus

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

AEE and SG were responsible for the idea and the study design under the supervision of SMSI. All authors screened records and extracted the data under the supervision of SMSI. AEE analyzed the data and interpreted it. All authors shared in writing the manuscript and approval of the final version under the supervision of SMSI.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.