Causes of Autoimmune Diseases

Unfortunately, autoimmune diseases remain among the most poorly understood of any category of illness. It is thought that hormones play a role in inducing autoimmune diseases; some cases suddenly improve during pregnancy, some flare-ups occur after delivery, while others will get worse during pregnancy, or flare up after menopause.

Autoimmune diseases seem to also have a hereditary component, but mysteriously, they can cluster in families as different illnesses. For example, a mother may have lupus erythematosus; her daughter, diabetes; her grandmother, rheumatoid arthritis. Research is shedding light on genetic, as well as hormonal and environmental risk factors that contribute to the causes of these diseases.