Who is at risk?

Anyone can experience an autoimmune disease, but some people are genetically predisposed.

Children whose parents suffer from autoimmune diseases are at high risk. For example, multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus erythematosus are often inherited. In addition, infections can influence the development of autoimmune diseases in a genetically predisposed individual.

Autoimmune diseases more often threaten middle-aged and young adults. And women are more susceptible than men, which is believed to be due to the fact that women often have stronger immune responses than men.

Ethnicity also plays a role. Native Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans are more likely to suffer from autoimmune disorders. The exception is type 1 diabetes, which is more common for Caucasians.

Types of autoimmune diseases

There are about 80 autoimmune diseases. Some of them affect only one organ — for example, in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the immune system fights the thyroid gland, while in lupus erythematosus there is systemic destruction of the whole body.

• Systemic: lupus erythematosus and autoimmune diseases caused by HIV
• Hormone-dependent: type 1 diabetes mellitus, Grave's disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, 21-hydroxylase deficiency
• Eye diseases: acute anterior uveitis, Sjögren's syndrome
• Nervous system diseases: multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis
• Arthritic diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis
• Gastrointestinal diseases: autoimmune hepatitis and pancreatitis, celiac disease, primary biliary cirrhosis
• Blood and vascular diseases: hemolytic anemia, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, polyarteritis nodosa, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
• Skin diseases: vitiligo, psoriasis, dermatomyositis, focal alopecia, scleroderma

Symptoms to watch for

Most autoimmune diseases have similar symptoms including decreased joint mobility, hair loss, skin rashes, swelling, numbness of the hands and feet, problems with concentration, and general fatigue. However, some of them have special symptoms — for example, with type 1 diabetes, a person is thin and constantly thirsty.

The main danger of any autoimmune disease is that the person may not be aware of its presence until the disease is more advanced. Sometimes it takes years to be diagnosed.

Next steps

Diagnosing various autoimmune diseases requires an individualized approach. It is important that you seek medical help from a specialist as soon as you notice any symptoms. But there is a basic test to detect any autoimmune disease, which is a test for specific autoantibodies.

It will also be necessary to take a blood test to determine the level of red blood cells and white blood cells — if the immune system is struggling with something, their numbers will deviate from the normal ranges for a healthy person. All types of autoimmune disorders are accompanied by inflammatory processes, so the sedimentation rate of erythrocytes and C-reactive protein should be checked.

To date, autoimmune diseases are considered incurable. But with the help of competent therapy, most of them can be kept under control and their disease progression can be significantly slowed down.

10 December 2021