Why Are Women More Prone to Autoimmune Disease?

Nadine Rücker
Aug 20, 2025
3 min read

What is Autoimmune Disease?

An autoimmune disease occurs when your immune system, designed to detect and destroy invaders like pathogens or dead cells, becomes confused and attacks your own healthy tissues. This “friendly fire” can involve the immune system producing antibodies that mistake normal tissues for harmful invaders.

There are over 100 recognized autoimmune diseases—including rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, celiac disease, and Graves’ disease. Understanding whether a condition has autoimmune roots is key to addressing its underlying causes, rather than just managing symptoms.

Interestingly, other chronic conditions like endometriosis, certain types of IBS, chronic Lyme disease, and long COVID are now being explored for autoimmune components.

A women itches a rash on her arm. Skin rashes are a common symptom of autoimmune diseases.

Why Are Women More Affected?

Up to 78% of those diagnosed with autoimmune diseases are women. Certain conditions, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), have a female-to-male ratio as high as 10:1. This disparity is driven by a mix of biological, hormonal, and social factors:

1. Hormonal Transitions

Women experience significant hormonal shifts at puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. These transitions affect immune function through interactions between sex hormones (like estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin) and immune responses. For instance, estrogen has concentration-dependent effects: it can both stimulate and suppress immune activity depending on levels.

During pregnancy, immune responses shift to tolerate the fetus (which is 50% foreign DNA), often resulting in symptom relief for diseases like multiple sclerosis, but flare-ups for conditions like lupus postpartum.

2. Stress and Trauma

Trauma, especially in childhood, is a significant trigger. Early trauma affects the developing psychological, immune, neurological, and endocrine (PINE) systems. Chronic toxic stress, hormonal shifts, and life changes such as pregnancy or menopause can tip a predisposed immune system into autoimmunity.

Women experience more stress and trauma than men, often earlier in life. Cultural norms that pressure women to overfunction, over-care, and prioritize others can worsen this, leading to burnout and elevated autoimmune risk.

Common Symptoms

Autoimmune diseases can be hard to diagnose due to non-specific symptoms that vary based on the organ attacked. Common signs include:

Fatigue and exhaustion
Joint pain and swelling
Systemic inflammation
Skin rashes, bloating, neuropathy

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, for example, affects the thyroid (our body’s “gas pedal”) and can cause fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, dry skin, and high cholesterol.

Why Does This Matter?

Recognizing autoimmune diseases early allows for targeted lifestyle interventions and testing. Antibodies can be present for years before diagnosis, and rates have tripled over the past 25 years.

Root Causes

Root causes include:

Genetic predisposition: discoverable through genetic testing
Leaky gut: a compromised gut barrier exposes immune cells (70% of which are in the gut) to food particles and bacteria, triggering immune reactions
Triggers: trauma, stress, hormonal changes, and lifestyle factors like alcohol and poor diet

What You Can Do

If you think you might have an autoimmune disease, here are some steps you can take:

Testing: Check inflammatory markers, immune reactivity (e.g., celiac antibodies), hormone levels, Vitamin D, glucose, and insulin
Elimination Diet: Remove gluten, dairy, sugar, and alcohol for 3 weeks—symptom improvement is often rapid
Track Your Triggers: Identify patterns in stress or trauma that worsen symptoms

Lifestyle changes (what you eat, drink, and how you manage stress) can dramatically reduce symptoms. Deep breathing, yoga, and mindfulness are powerful tools. Just 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out of deep abdominal breathing can calm the immune system.

Summary

Autoimmune disease is not just a personal health issue, it’s a societal issue, especially for women. Many are conditioned to suppress their needs and emotions, but reclaiming health means prioritizing self-care and advocating for yourself. If you’re on medication, lifestyle changes can support healing and may reduce your dependence over time.

Healing is within reach. It starts with small, consistent choices.