About one in ten people have an autoimmune disease, according to a population study of more than 2.2 million people. Autoimmune disease varies widely, and falls into subspecialties across the medical world: dermatology, gastroenterology, neurology , and more — and getting a diagnosis for an autoimmune disease can be long and difficult.

Autoimmune diseases affect women and women of color on a far more frequent basis. Lupus is one of these diseases, affecting African American women three times more than white women.

We discuss why the diagnostic process for an autoimmune disease is so complicated and why rates of disease are higher for women and women of color.

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