Women are more at risk for auto immune diseases

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An exhaustive and systematic comparison of the prevalence of auto immune diseases for each sex, at different ages, has only recently been carried out.  One such careful analysis of 40 auto immune diseases led its authors to the following conclusion:  the human female is more at risk for most auto immune disorders,  at all ages,  except for certain auto immune nephropathies (diseases of the kidneys) which are clearly male-prevalent.   Crohn's disease (auto immune inflammation of the colon) may also be slightly more frequent in men.  Another notable generality is that the age of onset of virtually all auto immune diseases is pubertal or post-pubertal, very rarely pre-pubertal (except for Sydenham's chorea) and that the disparity of risk for the sexes increases with age until menopause.   Of course, this is because the second estrogen bath (puberty),  pregnancies,  and the estrogen peaks of the menstrual cycle all increase women's chances of developing auto immune symptoms.   The striking sex difference in the risk for auto immune disease is seen in the female-to-male prevalence ratios of the following auto immune diseases (see table 8).

Table 8  

Prevalence of auto immune disorders in women relative to men

Auto immune disorder	Tissue affected	Female to male prevalence
Sydenham's chorea	Basal ganglia of the brain	(2:1)
Fibromyalgia	Connective tissue	(5:1)
Systemic lupus erythematosis	Blood vessels, skin and brain	(12:1)
Multiple sclerosis	Myelin cells of the brain	(3:1)
Graves disease	Thyroid gland	(7:1)
Rheumatoid arthritis	Joints	(4:1)
Myasthenia gravis	Neuromuscular junction	(3:1)
Sjogren's disease	Eye	(9:1)
Auto immune cholangitis	Biliary duct	(9:1)