_Anecdotally_ I’ve noticed a huge uptick in colleagues and friends with some kind of autoimmune problem in the last 3 years, especially those with severe symptoms. Looking forward to any good study into this problem which was already growing even before the current “covid age”.
I would be interested in seeing some kind of long-term study of the appearance of reported symptoms that are associated with autoimmune disease, and not just the diagnosis of autoimmune disease. If rates of reported symptoms in the population are increasing, Then it's suggestive that the prevalence of disease is increasing, whereas if diagnoses are increasing but reported symptoms or not, it's indicative of better testing and a stable prevalence of disease.
Severe symptoms would be painful and persistent Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Myositis, and some condition requiring regular infusions of immunosuppressant drugs in hospital (I did not wish to pry as to the exact nature of that one). It’s my understanding that all of these were quite easily diagnosed in their respective patients as they were so severe.
