The prevalence of Autoimmune Diseases has increased many folds over the past decades. Autoimmune diseases are more common in females with a female-to-male ratio ranging from 10:1 to 1:1, said Dr Uma Kumar, Prof & Head of Department, Rheumatology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

While speaking to IANS, Dr Kumar said that despite scientific advancements in the field, there is a dearth of good quality epidemiological data on each Autoimmune disease. She said the disease can occur at any age but is more common during the reproductive years.

"The presence of one Autoimmune disease in an individual increases the risk of developing another Autoimmune Disease by 30-40 per cent", she said, adding that there are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases.

Prof Uma Kumar said that the inherent ability of the immune system to identify the body's own healthy cells and tissues prevents it from attacking them. But, under certain circumstances, the immune system fails to distinguish self from self resulting in a loss of self-tolerance.

The immune system starts mistaking its own healthy tissues as foreign and attacks them resulting in autoimmunity, which forms the basis for Autoimmune Diseases.

The majority of autoimmune diseases involve many organs, particularly connective tissue diseases, vasculitis, etc. The most common autoimmune rheumatological disease is rheumatoid arthritis which predominantly involves small joints of hands and feet with significant early morning stiffness of more than 30 minutes.

If left untreated it results in deformity, disability, and death. An autoimmune disease also increases the risk of comorbidities like cancer, stroke, mental illnesses, infections and risk of early mortality.

On the question of how to diagnose the problem, Prof Kumar said that there is no single specific test to diagnose Autoimmune Diseases and the symptoms can be confusing because many autoimmune diseases have similar symptoms.

"Investigations in a patient with the autoimmune disease include basic and specialised blood tests, urine tests, and radiological investigations depending on the type of autoimmune disease and its extent", she told IANS.

Autoimmune diseases can develop in anyone with a genetic predisposition. It has been seen that a person with one autoimmune disorder has an increased risk of developing another by 30 per cent, she said.

On being asked about the prevention, Dr Kumar said that the prevention of a disease is possible only if the precise causative factors of the disease are known. Therefore, it may not be possible to prevent autoimmune diseases.

However, no smoking, regular exercise healthy diet and exploring food intolerances and avoiding stress can decrease the chances of Autoimmune Diseases.