Presence of Propionibacterium acnes in tissue and granulomas related to organ involvement and Scadding stage
| PAB staining | PAB staining present in granulomas | |||||
| Negative (n=45) | Positive (n=31) | p-value# | No (n=63) | Yes (n=13) | p-value# | |
| Age¶ years | 44.59±12.51 | 43.08±11.94 | 0.601 | 44.76±12.17 | 40.18±12.26 | 0.222 |
| Male sex | 23 (51) | 19 (61) | 0.380 | 33 (52) | 9 (69) | 0.266 |
| White | 38 (84) | 26 (84) | 1.000 | 52 (83) | 12 (92) | 0.679 |
| Extrapulmonary involvement | 32 (71) | 22 (71) | 0.989 | 46 (73) | 8 (62) | 0.504 |
| Skin | 12 (27) | 6 (19) | 0.461 | 15 (24) | 3 (23) | 1.000 |
| Eyes | 4 (9) | 3 (10) | 1.000 | 6 (10) | 1 (8) | 1.000 |
| Liver | 2 (4) | 6 (19) | 0.057 | 6 (10) | 2 (15) | 0.619 |
| Heart | 8 (18) | 5 (16) | 0.851 | 12 (19) | 1 (8) | 0.446 |
| Spleen | 2 (4) | 1 (3) | 1.000 | 2 (3) | 1 (8) | 0.435 |
| Bones | 3 (7) | 1 (3) | 0.641 | 4 (6) | 0 | 1.000 |
| Nerve system | 11 (24) | 4 (13) | 0.214 | 14 (22) | 1 (8) | 0.444 |
| Central | 5 (11) | 1 (3) | 0.391 | 6 (10) | 0 | 0.582 |
| Peripheral | 1 (2) | 0 | 1.000 | 1 (2) | 0 | 1.000 |
| SFN | 7 (16) | 3 (10) | 0.514 | 9 (14) | 1 (8) | 1.000 |
| Scadding stage at diagnosis (0/I/II/III/IV) | (N=44), 3/13/19/5/4 (7/30/43/11/9) | (N=29), 0/10/13/2/4 (0/35/45/7/14) | 0.585 | (N=61), 3/19/29/5/5 (5/31/48/8/8) | (N=12), 0/4/3/2/3 (0/33/25/17/25) | 0.277 |
| Scadding stage after 2 years (0/I/II/III/IV) | (N=39), 11/4/12/5/7 (28/10/31/13/18) | (N=24), 6/3/8/1/6 (25/13/33/4/25) | 0.794 | (N=53), 14/6/19/5/9 (26/11/36/9/17) | (N=10), 3/1/1/1/4 (30/10/10/10/40) | 0.408 |
| Scadding stage after 5 years (0/I/II/III/IV) | (N=25) 5/2/4/6/8 (20/8/16/24/32) | (N=16) 3/1/4/2/6 (19/6/25/13/38) | 0.878 | (N=34), 7/2/8/7/10 (21/6/24/21/29) | (N=7), 1/1/0/1/4 14/14/0/14/57 | 0.441 |
Data are presented as mean±sd or n (%), unless otherwise stated. Chest radiographs to determine Scadding stages were missing from three sarcoidosis patients at diagnosis, from 13 patients 2 years after diagnosis and from 35 patients 5 years after diagnosis. Scadding stages: 0: Normal chest radiograph; I: BHL; II: BHL with pulmonary infiltrates; III: pulmonary infiltrates without BHL; IV: fibrosis. SFN: Small fibre neuropathy, PAB: P. acnes-specific monoclonal antibodies that react with cell membrane-bound lipoteichoic acid; BHL: bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy. #: p-values regarding age was calculated using an independent samples t-test. Other p-values were calculated using a Fisher's exact test, except for sex (both p-values), extrapulmonary involvement in the P. acnes score group, skin, heart and nerve system involvement in the P. acnes score group and Scadding stages; ¶: Age at time of biopsy.