In the United States, 32 million individuals have autoantibodies, the most prevalent of which are antinuclear antibodies (ANA), according to an investigation carried out by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an agency of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Although the investigation is the first to study the presence of autoantibodies in individuals in the United States, the results are far from unexpected, revealed the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA).

AARDA’s President and Executive Director Virginia T. Ladd explained:

“This study does not surprise us at AARDA as we have known that the number of autoimmune diseases have been increasing significantly within the past decade. What we don’t know is why.”

NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., stated:

“Some of this may be due environmental influences. We need to continue the research momentum that we have been building over the last few years to better understand how autoimmune diseases develop so we can better predict and eventually prevent the development of some autoimmune diseases.”

Not all individuals who test positive for ANA will develop an autoimmune disease. Noel R. Rose M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Autoimmune Disease Research at Johns Hopkins University, explained that this study paves the way for future investigations as to why some people who test positive for ANA develop an autoimmune disease, while others do not.

Dr. Rose said:

“This landmark study focuses our attention on the critical question of how often a person with ANA goes on to actual clinical disease. That question must be addressed in this oncoming age of personalized, predictive and preventive medicine.”

According to AARDA, the real question may be.. why? And, what can we do about the 32 million individuals in the U.S. exhibiting autoantibodies?

Ladd explains that because policy makers don’t have accurate data outlining the problem, they cannot act effectively on behalf of research priorities for autoimmune diseases.

Ladd says:

“Autoimmune diseases are a significant factor in the cost of health care in the U.S. However, there is no study that provides detailed data on the true cost of autoimmune diseases in this country.

Diseases are generally tracked separately by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), rather than by category of disease. However, AHRQ does not have tracking codes for all of the 100+ autoimmune diseases, without which it is nearly impossible to find the cost and true impact of these diseases. Not only do we not know the cost, but additionally, we don’t have studies on the epidemiology of individual autoimmune diseases.

Currently, studies exist on only 24 of the 100+ diseases. How can policy makers act when they do not have the data to understand the impact these diseases are having on their constituents?”

This investigation is the first in a series that will study alterations in the prevalence of ANA over time, as well as other factors, such as environmental factors, that may be linked to the development of ANA, according to NIEHS.

Investigators and advocacy groups like AARDA see this investigation as a crucial first step that will open new doors for prevention and treatment for autoimmune disease.

In the U.S., around 50 million individuals (20% or 1 in 5 people) suffer from autoimmune disease. Autoimmune disease is more prevalent in women, with some estimates stating that 75% (37.5 million) of individuals with an autoimmune disease are women. Although, autoimmune is rarely discussed as an issue of women’s health.

An autoantibody is an antibody (a type of protein) produced by the immune system to fight bacteria and infections that targets one or more of the individual’s own body tissues. Autoimmunity is a disease category, which is the cause of over 100 autoimmune diseases, such as celiac, lupus, type 1 diabetes, Sjögren’s sydrome, and Crohn’s disease.

Written by Grace Rattue