Autoimmune diseases: a leading cause of death among young and middle-aged women in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the effect of autoimmune diseases on mortality among women.


METHODS
Counts of autoimmune disease deaths were compared with frequencies of the 10 "official" leading causes of death among women in the United States in 1995.


RESULTS
Autoimmune disease deaths exceeded the frequency of the 10th leading cause in every age category of women younger than 65 years and exceeded that for the eighth leading cause in the 15 to 24, 25 to 44, and 45 to 64 years age groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Autoimmune diseases constitute a leading cause of death among young and middle-aged women. This fact is obscured by current methods used to identify leading causes.
Walsh
S J
SJ
Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06030-6325, USA. walsh@nso.uchc.edu
Rau
L M
LM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D015982:Bias; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health