Autoimmune diseases currently affect more than 10% of the population and are growing
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Autoimmune diseases currently affect more than 10% of the population and are growing
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Autoimmune diseases currently affect more than 10% of the population and are growing.
About one in 10 people has an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells, according to a new population-based study of 22 million people.
The study looked at 19 of the most common autoimmune diseases, using a large, anonymized electronic health record dataset from the United Kingdom.
The findings are published in The Lancet and will be presented at the EULAR Congress in Milan in 2023.
This is higher than previous estimates, which tended to rely on smaller sample sizes and included fewer autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases are a broad class of health conditions in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own cells, tissues or organs.
This abnormal immune response can lead to inflammation and damage in various parts of the body. Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and type 1 diabetes, among others.
Between 2000 and 2019, 978,872 people were newly diagnosed with one or more autoimmune diseases.
Notably, the age-standardized incidence rate for autoimmune diseases rose by 4% during the study period, with the same incidence in both sexes.
Increases were most pronounced in Basedow’s disease, celiac disease, and Sjögren’s syndrome, which have doubled in incidence over the past two decades.
On the other hand, the incidence of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and pernicious anemia decreased significantly during the same period.
Researchers find evidence of socioeconomic, seasonal and regional differences in some autoimmune diseases. For example, type 1 diabetes and vitiligo are more common in winter and summer, respectively.
This difference, they suggest, may indicate that potentially modifiable risk factors such as smoking, obesity or stress are involved in the pathogenesis of some autoimmune diseases.
Studies have also shown that people who have one autoimmune disease are more likely to develop a second disease than those who do not.
Nathalie Konrad from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at KU Leuven, Belgium, said: “Autoimmune diseases are often linked, especially Sjogling’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. Patients with type 1 diabetes also had significantly higher rates of Addison’s disease, celiac disease and thyroid disease, whereas multiple sclerosis was less frequently associated with other autoimmune diseases, which is striking.”
However, not all autoimmune diseases exhibit this trend—for example, multiple sclerosis has a low comorbidity with other autoimmune diseases, suggesting that it has unique pathophysiology.
These results suggest that the burden of autoimmune disease continues to increase over time, albeit modestly.
One possible factor is that during the study period, awareness of certain diseases increased, along with improved coding methods and earlier identification of diseases.
Another possibility, inferred from the observed socioeconomic, seasonal, and regional differences, is that environmental factors may be involved in disease pathogenesis.
The authors also concluded that the interrelationships between autoimmune diseases point to common mechanisms or factors.
Autoimmune diseases currently affect more than 10% of the population and are growing
(source:internet, reference only)
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