Know more: autoimmune diseases

 
Autoimmune diseases (ADs) constitute a major U.S. health crisis.  According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there are 23.5 million Americans who suffer from autoimmune diseases, and the prevalence of these diseases is rising.  In comparison, cancer affects up to 9 million and heart disease up to 22 million.   Collectively, autoimmune disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in children and women under 65 and represents some $100 billion in annual direct health care costs.  Yet fewer than 6 percent of Americans surveyed in a recent AARDA/Roper poll could identify an autoimmune disease. 

There are more than 80 known autoimmune diseases and an additional 40 diseases that are suspected to be autoimmune-related.  The diseases themselves can affect almost any part of the body, including the kidneys, skin, heart, liver, lymph nodes, thyroid, and the central nervous system.  As a result, they cut across various medical specialties, such as endocrinology, neurology, dermatology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, and hematology, among others.  They include multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, lupus, Sjögren's disease, type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and Graves’ disease.  

Autoimmunity is the underlying cause of these diseases.  It is the process whereby the immune system mistakenly recognizes the body's own proteins as foreign invaders and begins producing antibodies that attack healthy cells and tissues, causing a variety of diseases.

Women are more likely than men to be affected; some estimates say that 75 percent of those affected are women.  These women are usually in the childbearing years.  In the past several years, autoimmunity has begun to be recognized as a major women’s health issue, with the Office of Research on Women’s Health at NIH recognizing it as such and the Society for Advancement of Women’s Health Research naming it as one of 10 diseases that most disproportionately affect women. 

Autoimmune diseases run in families. Given this connection, knowing the health histories of other family members is critical.  For example, if your grandmother or father or sister or uncle has an autoimmune disease, you could be more susceptible to developing one yourself.  Take an inventory of your family health problems, expanding your research beyond your immediate family to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives. Once you know your family history, share it with other family members and your doctor, who can then assess the possibilities with a degree of accuracy and order appropriate tests.

If you suspect that you or someone in your family has an AD, keep a "symptoms" list. People with ADs often suffer from a number of symptoms that, on the surface, seem unrelated. It's important, therefore, to list every major symptom you've experienced so you can present it clearly to your doctor.  Getting an autoimmune disease diagnosis is often challenging. An American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) study of autoimmune patients found that the average time for diagnosis of a serious autoimmune disease is 4.6 years.  One of the factors that makes getting a correct AD diagnosis so difficult is that symptoms can vary widely, notably from one disease to another but even within the same disease. Also, because ADs affect multiple systems, their symptoms can often be misleading.

Find more information and a complete AD list at www.aarda.org.