Epidemiology of autoimmune diseases
Autoimmune diseases constitute a heavy burden to society and are in many instances a debilitating health problem to the individual patient affected.
Among the common autoimmune diseases with an impact on public health is the joint disease rheumatoid arthritis which currently affects the lives of approximately 50,000 Danes, and other examples include multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases, lupus, scleroderma, psoriasis, and several other diseases.
Over the past several years researchers in Department of Epidemiology Research have been active in the search for possible causal factors involved in autoimmune diseases. For instance, studies from our group have shown that rheumatoid arthritis is not only one disease as previously thought, but at least two etiologically distinct rheumatic diseases, and that both genetic and environmental factors contribute importantly to their causation.
Other recent findings from our group show that certain common intestinal bacteria which have long been thought to be implicated in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disases are unlikely to be causally involved; that women with Turner syndrome are at increased risk of those autoimmune diseases that usually prevail among men; that infectious mononucleosis is not a cause of lupus erythematosus; and that women with hyperemesis, gestational hypertension or preeclampsia are at an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
Recent Ph.D projects
Among PhD projects in the department is a detailed scrutiny of possible pregnancy-related risk factors for female-predominant autoimmune diseases. Other ongoing activities include etiological studies of multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and the inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Last revised 6 December 2011