Women's Health

According to a Lancet study of over 22,000,000 people in the UK, it was found that the 19 most common autoimmune disorders affected 10.2% of the population over the study period between 2000 and 2019. This equated to 13.1% of women and 7.4% of men. The prevalence among women with these diseases may be caused be genetics and hormones, but there is also evidence of socioeconomic, seasonal, and regional disparities among several autoimmune disorders.

What are autoimmune diseases? The body’s natural defence system can’t always tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases that affect a wide range of body parts, and some of the most common which affect women are:

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Lupus
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Psoriasis (and psoriatic arthritis)
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Thyroid diseases
• Type 1 diabetes

Further information about each type of these diseases can be found at the NHS website.