Women affected more often

Autoimmune diseases are becoming increasingly common

The most common was Hashimoto's thyroiditis, followed by psoriasis (image) and rheumatoid arthritis.

(Bild: Daniel Beckemeier, stock.adobe.com)

More and more people are suffering chronically from autoimmune diseases. In Germany, their frequency has increased by 22% between 2012 and 2022, according to billing data from doctors with health insurance contracts. This is the result of a first comprehensive analysis of around 70 million insured persons for diseases such as rheumatism, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, etc.

The main result of the study*: In 2022, 6.3 million people were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. This meant that around 8.61 percent of insured persons suffered from one of these chronic diseases. In 2012, 7.06 percent of people had such a diagnosis. This represented an increase of 22 percent.

Of the 30 autoimmune diseases whose frequency was examined, there was an increase in 28.

The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (chronic polyarthritis) also increased by 17 percent.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/JorSons/peopleimages.com - stock.adobe.com)

Various reasons for increase suspected
The reasons for the increase in autoimmune diseases are not known in detail. Women are affected more often than men. Various bacterial and viral infectious diseases, environmental influences and lifestyle factors are thought to be risk factors.

Demographic trends also appear to play a role. Long Covid patients also show signs of an autoimmune disease in their blood.

The results of the study:

• The incidence of the two chronic inflammatory bowel diseases Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis increased by 35 percent and 34 percent respectively, and that of psoriasis by 17 percent.
• The number of cases of coeliac disease rose by 130 percent.
• In the case of the common thyroid disease Hashimoto's thyroiditis, the increase was 72 percent.
• Within ten years, the number of diagnoses of multiple sclerosis increased by 32 percent.
• The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis (chronic polyarthritis) increased by 17 percent.

What are autoimmune diseases?

An autoimmune disease is a chronic inflammatory disease in which the immune system attacks the body's own cells and tissue. Up to 80 different autoimmune diseases are known. (DOI: 10.20364/VA-24.05)

• Only type 1 diabetes (minus 18 percent) and a second rare autoimmune disease (Sjögren's syndrome/minus 27 percent) saw a decline.
• Most recently, Hashimoto's thyroiditis was the most frequently diagnosed disease among those with health insurance, accounting for 2.30 percent, followed by psoriasis (1.85 percent) and rheumatoid arthritis (1.36 percent). These three diseases alone affected more than five percent of people.

*In Germany, it was not previously known how many people actually suffer from these diseases. For this reason, the diagnoses of 30 autoimmune diseases of the German health insurance companies of almost 69 million insured persons in 2012 and of just over 73 million insured persons in 2022 were compared and analyzed.