Summary: Understanding autoimmune disorders could be pretty challenging, even for medical experts. There are more than 80 known autoimmune disorders. These disorders differ by age at onset and affect various organs from the brain to joints. It means that even experts struggle to remember all the necessary information about these disorders. Therefore, researchers recently created an excellent infographic depicting 76 most common autoimmune conditions. They even gave them color coding as in some autoimmune diseases, antibodies are detectable, while in others not. Thus, the role of autoimmunity varies in these various conditions, too. This infographic, though not perfect, can provide an excellent overview of autoimmune disorders.
It isn’t easy to believe that the immune system which is there to defend the body may sometimes turn against it. Nevertheless, it is true, and there are more than 80 known autoimmune conditions affecting people.
The idea that the immune system may start attacking the body sounds so absurd that even famous immunologist Paul Ehrlich (later won Nobel prize) initially discarded it. Nevertheless, it is now all too clear that autoimmune disorders are not rare. On the contrary, they affect millions of lives globally1.
More than 20 million Americans are living with autoimmune disorders. It is worrying that these conditions are increasing in developed economies. It points towards of role of environment and lifestyle in these conditions, too1—a concern that chronic pain specialists are increasingly addressing in their practices.
Latest studies have helped researchers develop a better understanding of autoimmune disorders. They now know that these conditions primarily occur when the body develops antibodies against its own cells (autoantibody). These antibodies attack the healthy tissues and may cause severe damage to them.
Since there are so many different autoimmune disorders, understanding them may be pretty challenging. In addition, they have quite a varied clinical presentation, age of onset, and clinical picture. For example, type 1 diabetes has little in common with rheumatoid arthritis or narcolepsy.
The world of autoimmune disorders
Thus, researchers have developed a general outline of most common 76 autoimmune disorders to better understand the world of autoimmune diseases. This outline presents the part of the body affected, age at onset, gender as a risk factor, and frequency of the ailment. Such an outline may serve as a learning aid for doctors. It may also provide valuable information to the people.
Image credit: Jen Christiansen/Miriam Quick
This table/infographic is not perfect, but it does provide an excellent overview. It is especially useful considering that there are so many autoimmune disorders, and each differs considerably from others.
What is even more complex about autoimmune disorders is that not all of them could be regarded as pure autoimmune conditions. Thus, researchers have further divided these disorders into categories (denoted by various colors in the image). For example, some have, like Graves’ disease has a high association with autoantibodies, and the same is true for type 1 diabetes2.
However, autoantibodies do not appear to play such a significant role in some conditions like psoriasis and ulcerative colitis. Nevertheless, researchers know they are autoimmune conditions as they respond well to therapy targeting the immune system.
Another thing vital to know is that this table about autoimmune conditions is by no way perfect. For example, it does not mention many disease conditions that are known to occur due to autoimmunity, like neuromyelitis optica. It is because not every condition was included in the study.
It is worth understanding that autoimmune disorders are pretty complex. The mechanism of most of these disorders is not fully understood yet. It is quite probable that autoimmunity may play in many other diseases that are generally not regarded as autoimmune disorders.
To conclude, this infographic provides an excellent birds-eye view of the most prevalent autoimmune disorders. It could be a quick way to learn more about them.
References
- Rose NR. Prediction and Prevention of Autoimmune Disease in the 21st Century: A Review and Preview. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2016;183(5):403-406. doi:10.1093/aje/kwv292
- Severe victims of 76 autoimmune diseases. Jioforme. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.jioforme.com/severe-victims-of-76-autoimmune-diseases/740106/
