Autoimmune Disease: A Range of Discriminating Illnesses
Autoimmune disease is discriminating. Of the more than 80 autoimmune diseases that affect different parts of the human body, about 75% of them are found in women. For instance, women are 10 times more likely than men to have lupus.
The Body Turns on Itself
When a woman has an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly turns the body against itself. Autoimmune diseases range from mild to disabling, and some are even potentially life-threatening. These diseases can involve diseases of the nervous, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems, as well as the skin and other connective tissues, eyes, blood, and blood vessels.
The inequity between men and women is only one of the mysteries about autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases seem to run in families. However, they may show up as different illnesses in different family members. For instance, a mother may have diabetes, her daughter may have lupus, and the grandmother may have rheumatoid arthritis. Scientists are studying how autoimmune diseases cluster in families and even in individuals.
Hormones Play a Role
Hormones are also a factor in autoimmune disease. Some diseases occur most frequently during childbearing years, and other autoimmune diseases occur most frequently after menopause.
Some rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis tend to improve during pregnancy and then flare after the baby is born. Other diseases, such as systemic lupus, have a tendency to flare during pregnancy. W. Joseph McCune, M.D., Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Associate Chief for Clinical Programs, Division of Rheumatology, says, "In pregnant women with rheumatoid arthritis, there is probably a change in the mother that helps the mother's immune system tolerate the baby because the baby has genes from the father, and its tissues are partially 'foreign' to the mother."
The encouraging news for people who suffer from autoimmune diseases is that the University of Michigan has one of the strongest rheumatology divisions in the country. The U-M Health System's Division of Rheumatology has a large and diverse faculty, strong clinical interests in all of the major rheumatic diseases, a large research base investigating the kind of immune problems that lead to the development of a rheumatic or autoimmune disease, and expanding clinical research efforts including the prevention of heart disease in women with lupus-women with lupus are 50 times more likely to have cardiovascular disease.
For more information about autoimmune diseases, contact the University of Michigan Women's Health Resource Center at 734-936-8886.
Reading List
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You . . . But You Need to Know by Mary J. Shomon
Women and Autoimmune Disease: The Mysterious Ways Your Body Betrays Itself by Robert G. Lahita, M.D., Ph.D. and Ina Yalof
The Autoimmune Connection by Rita Baron-Faust and Jill P. Buyon, M.D.
Thriving With Your Autoimmune Disorder: A Woman's Mind-Body Guide by Simone Ravitz, Ph.D., M.B.A.
The Fibromyalgia Relief Handbook by Chet Cunningham
This article appeared in the June/July 2005 issue of Women's Health. You can read the issue online.
