The epidemiology of autoimmune diseases
Introduction
Epidemiology can be described as the study of the distribution, and the determinants of the distribution, of disease within a population. Autoimmune diseases as a group represent a diverse collection of diseases in terms of their demographic profile and primary clinical manifestations [1]. The commonality between them, however, is the damage to tissues and organs that arises from the response to self-antigens. Research (laboratory-based and epidemiologic) generally focuses on an individual disease although there is evidence of some common genetic and environmental risk factors across diseases [2], [3].
Autoimmune diseases are generally thought of as being relatively rare, but their effects on mortality and morbidity are quite high. Autoimmune diseases are among the leading causes of death among young and middle-aged women (ages <65 years) in the United States [4]. The chronic nature of many of these diseases results in a significant impact in terms of medical care utilization, direct and indirect economic costs, and quality of life.
Section snippets
Incidence and prevalence of autoimmune diseases
Jacobson et al. recently summarized available studies pertaining to the incidence and prevalence of specific autoimmune diseases [1]. Data on at least one of these rates were available for 19 of the 24 selected diseases. Table 1 summarizes this analysis, with additional information from studies of Addison disease [5], adult-onset type 1 diabetes [6], [7], juvenile rheumatoid arthritis [8], [9], systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) [10], Sjögren disease [11] and Wegener granulomatosis and systemic
Summary
There are several epidemiologic questions pertaining to autoimmune diseases and autoantibodies that require additional research. Basic descriptive information (incidence, prevalence, age, sex, ethnic or racial distributions, temporal changes in incidence) is lacking for many diseases. Although there may be commonalities between some autoimmune diseases (e.g. the increased risk experience by women), autoimmune diseases as a group do not follow consistent demographic patterns. Disease-specific
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.
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