Tuberculin Tests during the Course of Sarcoidosis in 350 Patients1–3

Tuberculin sensitivity was determined in 350 patients with tissue-confirmed sarcoidosis during a period of one to 22 years. At first presentation, 190 patients (54 per cent) were completely nonreactive to 100 TU to 250 TU, 111 (32 per cent) reacted only to 100 TU to 250 TU, and 49 (14 per cent) reacted to 1 TU to 10 TU. Nonreactors and weak reactors comprised 301 patients (86 per cent). The ratio of nonreactors and weak reactors to strong reactors remained at a similar level in each of three time periods during a span of one year to 22 years. In 91 of the patients in whom serial tuberculin tests were done, reactivity to tuberculin did not change in more than two thirds. In the total group of 350 patients, differences in the degree of tuberculin reactivity among patients with subacute and chronic sarcoidosis were not significant. When sarcoidosis stabilized or became clinically inactive, tuberculin reactivity showed little change from that present during the active phase of sarcoidosis among 69 patients wh...