Autoimmune disorders
Of the 50 million Americans suffering from autoimmune diseases, an astonishing 75 percent of them are women, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. These disorders, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis, and primary biliary cirrhosis, cause the body’s immune system to attack its own organs.
Lupus, in particular, is primarily a women’s disease, affecting about nine women for every one man. However, according to Michael Guma, DO, director of Rheumatology Riverside Medical Group in Northern New Jersey, men tend to have a more aggressive disease when they are diagnosed with Lupus, though large-scale studies are needed to fully substantiate this observation.
