New research has found that one in every ten people in the United Kingdom suffers from an autoimmune illness. Autoimmune illnesses usually develop when the body’s immune system starts to attack normal cells, destroying healthy tissues in the body. While experts don’t know the exact cause of these illnesses, they believe genetics and environmental factors play a role in their development.
Some diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, are said to have risen in prevalence over the last couple of decades, leading researchers to hypothesize that autoimmune illnesses may be on the rise.
For their study, the researchers analyzed health records of 22 million individuals, with the objective of investigating 19 of the most common autoimmune disorders. Those disorders included rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, vitiligo, inflammatory bowel disease, Graves’ disease, systemic sclerosis, coeliac disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, pernicious anemia, primary biliary cholangitis, Addison’s disease, Sjogren’s syndrome, vasculitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Ankylosing spondylitis, polymyalgia rheumatica and myasthenia gravis.
The researchers found that 7% and 13% of men and women respectively, were affected by at least one disorder on the list. Overall, roughly 10% of the population live with at least one autoimmune illness. This figure is higher than previous estimates, which ranged from 3% to 9%. The results also show that factors such as stress, obesity and smoking could contribute to the development of some of these illnesses.
In addition, the researchers discovered that in some cases, an individual who already has an autoimmune disorder had higher chances of developing another one, in comparison to those with no disorder.
Dr. Nathalie Conrad, the first author of the study, explained that co-occurring diseases could mean that some autoimmune disorders shared common risk factors, such as environmental triggers or genetic predispositions. Conrad noted that this was especially visible among endocrine and rheumatic diseases and added that, unlike other autoimmune disorders, multiple sclerosis had low rates of co-occurrence with other autoimmune illnesses.
In their report, the researchers stated that their findings highlighted the need to look into the underlying causes of autoimmune disorders.
The study’s senior author, Professor Geraldine Cambridge, stated that the research drew attention to the significant burden that these illnesses placed upon people and the wider population. Cambridge noted that there was a need to increase study efforts to better understand what caused these disorders, adding that this would support the development of targeted interventions to decrease the contribution of social and environmental risk factors.
The study’s findings were reported in “The Lancet” journal.
The rising prevalence of autoimmune diseases is driving many companies such as BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: BVXV) to invest in finding better treatments for these conditions afflicting people around the world.
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