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Autoimmune diseases happen when the immune system, which is built to fight infection, attacks the body’s own tissues instead. There are many of them, and between them they can affect joints, skin, nerves, glands, the gut and blood vessels. This page is a way in to the specific conditions in this family.
The common thread is an immune system attacking the body it is meant to protect. Many of these conditions move between flares and quieter periods, and having one does not protect you from another: the largest study in this area, of 22 million health records in the UK, was designed partly to measure how often autoimmune diseases occur together. Most are also more common in women. In that study, 13% of women were affected against 7% of men, and MS Canada reports women are up to three times more likely than men to develop MS.
The other shared experience is the road to diagnosis. Early symptoms such as fatigue, aching joints, rashes and dryness overlap with dozens of everyday complaints, so these conditions can take time to name. A symptom pattern that keeps returning is a more useful signal than any single episode.
Clinical research for Autoimmune Diseases is enrolling. See the current studies
There is no single treatment for this family, and care is usually shared between primary care and a specialist: a rheumatologist, gastroenterologist, neurologist, endocrinologist or dermatologist depending on the condition. The tools, though, rhyme across the family. A health care team may discuss:
Each of these involves weighing benefits against risks over years. Those are decisions for you and your own clinician, and nothing here is a recommendation about any of them.
Researchers still do not fully understand why the immune system turns on the body, why most of these conditions affect more women than men, or why rates differ so much between countries, including Canada’s unusually high rate of multiple sclerosis. Treatment has moved from broadly suppressing the immune system toward medicines that block the specific signals driving each disease, and trials across this family are testing new targeted medicines, comparing treatment strategies, and studying how to catch these diseases earlier.
If you consider taking part, the terms are the same across the country. Participation is voluntary, you give informed consent first, and you can withdraw at any time without affecting your regular care. No one can say in advance whether a study will help you personally.
This page is written in plain language for people considering clinical research. It is general health information, not medical advice, and it does not replace a conversation with your own doctor or nurse practitioner.
A study of 22 million anonymised health records from the UK, published in The Lancet in 2023, found that about 1 in 10 people were living with at least one of 19 common autoimmune diseases: 13% of women and 7% of men. No comparable Canada-wide count has been published, but individual Canadian figures point the same way, including about 374,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis and about 322,600 with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.
Yes. Having one autoimmune disease does not protect you from another, and the UK study of 22 million people was designed partly to measure how often these conditions occur together. If you already have an autoimmune diagnosis and develop new symptoms that do not fit it, such as new joint pain, rashes, dryness or numbness, mention them to your health care team rather than assuming they are part of the same condition.
Treatment in this family is changing quickly, from broad immune suppression toward medicines that block specific immune signals, and trials are how researchers learn whether the newer approaches work and for whom. Taking part usually means extra assessments and close monitoring by a research team. Participation is voluntary, you give informed consent first, and you can withdraw at any time without affecting your regular care.
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