Women are disproportionately affected by autoimmune diseases, with nearly a third of surveyed women waiting four years or longer for a diagnosis. According to the study, 60.4% of women wait more than a year for a correct diagnosis, while nearly half of men are diagnosed within a year of symptom onset.
The study analyzed more than 6,000 patients with a wide range of autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid disease, systemic lupus, and multiple sclerosis. Women account for 70% to 80% of autoimmune disease cases worldwide.
Shaista Tayabali, co-author of the study, notes that historical gender biases may contribute to the disparities in diagnosis. She says, “Although labels such as hysteria are outdated, and fortunately rarely used nowadays, as women we still often have a harder time having our symptoms believed and therefore addressed accurately.”
Read Also: Pope to undergo lung surgery
Doctors often dismiss symptoms such as fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, or low mood as psychosomatic or psychiatric without considering autoimmune diseases at first. This can lead to longer waiting times, untreated conditions, and loss of trust in the healthcare system. David D’Cruz, consultant rheumatologist at Guy’s Hospital in London, emphasizes the need for clinicians to be open-minded and consider underlying autoimmune diseases.
The researchers found that women were more likely than men to have their symptoms misdiagnosed as psychosomatic, with 34% of women reporting this compared to 22% of men. Females were also almost 50% more likely to report having received a psychiatric misdiagnosis and nearly 75% more likely to report a psychosomatic misdiagnosis than males.
D’Cruz notes that psychiatric symptoms can be part of an autoimmune disease, especially in diseases like lupus, which can directly affect the brain. He stresses that it is essential for clinicians to listen to patients and consider the possibility of an underlying autoimmune disease.
