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Rare Autoimmune Diseases

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Rare Diseases Epidemiology

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 686))

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Abstract

Under the term “autoimmune diseases” are comprised a large number of disorders with variable clinical expression which have in common an autoimmune pathogenesis as defined by direct, indirect or circumstantial evidence. Autoimmune diseases may affect a single organ or may determine a multisystem involvement, and most of them cause significant and chronic morbidity and disability. Another important feature of autoimmune diseases is their propensity to affect more often females than males. Although few of them are quite common and well studied, the majority of autoimmune diseases are rare, and share with rare diseases lack of epidemiology data. The implementation of specific disease registries can help improve the knowledge on epidemiology of these conditions, a crucial step for evaluating health care interventions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Center for Rare Diseases, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and Renal Division, Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, 24020, Ranica, Bergamo, Italy

    Arrigo Schieppati MD

  2. Clinical Research Center for Rare Disease, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacolgical Research Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy

    Erica Daina MD

Authors
  1. Arrigo Schieppati MD
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  2. Erica Daina MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arrigo Schieppati MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Instituto de Investigaciñon en Enfermeda, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Monforte de Lemos 5, Madrid, 28029, Spain

    Manuel Posada de la Paz

  2. , Office of Rare Diseases Research, National Institutes of Health, Executive Boulevard 6100, Bethesda, 20892-7518, USA

    Stephen C. Groft

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© 2010 Springer Netherlands

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Schieppati, A., Daina, E. (2010). Rare Autoimmune Diseases. In: Posada de la Paz, M., Groft, S. (eds) Rare Diseases Epidemiology. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 686. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9485-8_21

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