AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
Autoimmune diseases include a diverse group of more than
80 chronic and often serious conditions that can affect
nearly every organ system in the human body. In all of
these diseases,
the body's immune system harms its own healthy cells, tissues,
and organs. Five major categories of autoimmune diseases
exist: connective tissue diseases, including systemic lupus
erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis; neuromuscular diseases
such as multiple sclerosis; endocrine diseases, including
Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease; gastrointestinal
disorders such as Crohn's disease; and other autoimmune
diseases primarily affecting the vascular system.
Approximately
75 percent of those affected by autoimmune diseases are
women, most frequently during the childbearing
years. Individually, autoimmune diseases are not very
common, however, taken as a whole, they represent the fourth-largest
cause of disability among women in the United States.1
One
of the most common autoimmune diseases among women is
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE is characterized
by the inflammation of connective tissues and can affect
various parts of the body, including the joints, skin,
and
kidneys. Ninety percent of individuals diagnosed with
the disease are women, and 80 percent of those afflicted
with
SLE develop it between the ages of 15 and 45.2 Lupus
is three times more common in Black women than White
women and more
common among women of Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian
descent.3
1American
Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, "Autoimmune
Disease in Women - The Facts." http://www.aarda.org/women.html 1998-1999. [Back
to Text]
2Lupus Foundation of America.
Lupus Fact Sheet.
http://www.lupus.org/education/factsheet.html [Back
to Text]
3National Institute of Arthritis
and Muscoloskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes
of Health. Handout
on
Health: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/lupus/slehandout/index.htm [Back
to Text]
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