The Sarcoidosis Diagnostic Score (SDS) system has been established for sarcoidosis patients based on the WASOG organ involvement criteria. We evaluated modifications of the SDS system to determine if they improved its the diagnostic accuracy.

Biopsy-confirmed patients with sarcoidosis seen during a 7-month period at 9 sarcoidosis centers across the world. Patients with non-sarcoidosis seen at the same sites were served as control patients. Comparing the SDS-biopsy and SDS-clinical values of five groups: duration of symptoms prior to evaluation (≤1 years vs.>1 years, ≤2 years vs.>2 years), organ involvement (lung, eye, or cardiac), race, and sex.

A total of 990 patients with sarcoidosis and 1011 controls were included in this study. The SDS-clinical was significantly more discriminating for those undergoing assessment with symptoms for more than one year (z-statistic=2.570, p = 0.0102) or two years (z-statistic=2.546, p = 0.0109). However, the addition of two points for both >1 years and >2 years since onset of symptoms did not increase sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis with the SDS system. The SDS-clinical cut-off for patients with ocular or cardiac disease was two points higher than that for lung disease. There was no difference in SDS-clinical or biopsy AUC values based on gender or race.

The longer the duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis, the more likely the diagnosis of sarcoidosis was correct. For patients presenting with ocular or cardiac symptoms, evidence of multi-organ involved can improve the diagnostic accuracy of the SDS-clinical.