If you have sarcoidosis, you may have no symptoms at all. Only small changes might show up on a chest x-ray, or you may have progressive failure of many organs in your body. The cause of sarcoidosis isn't known. It most commonly affects adults between 20 and 40 years of age, but it may occur at any age. Two thirds of people with sarcoidosis are younger than 40 years of age at the time of diagnosis.
Sarcoidosis is more common in women than in men.
It occurs more often in blacks than in whites. Sarcoidosis is not contagious. You can't catch sarcoidosis from another person with the disease. Symptoms of sarcoidosis vary, depending on which part of your body is affected by the disease. Symptoms may be widespread, or they may involve only one organ system.