Autoimmune Disease

I am extremely excited to showcase our roundtable on immunoautonomics this month. Our thought leaders — including Mark C. Genovese, MD, David N. Chernoff, MD, and Ronald van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD — have given us a glimpse of the intersection of our autonomic nervous system and immune system, which is leading to exciting new nonpharmacological therapeutics of great potential.

By the time Lilly Stairs was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis at the age of 19 — following an arduous series of tests and doctor visits — she had already been living with an autoimmune disease for 12 years.

Beyond Celiac – a leading nonprofit supporting research in celiac disease – announced the award of two long-term grants funding an established researcher as well as a new pilot study.

In the current issue, we are fortunate to have an esteemed group of experts exchange views over nosology in a diverse group of rheumatic diseases. How precise should the diagnosis be? Does it have dramatic therapeutic implications? What about coding and reimbursement? All good questions without easy answers.

A 29-year-old African American female presented upon referral from a fellow optometrist for retinal evaluation. Her chief complaint was blurry vision in the left eye that had been consistently present for 2 weeks. She reported that her central vision seemed most affected. She also reported seeing spots and floaters in her vision intermittently for 2 weeks.

There is a well-established body of evidence cataloguing the co-occurrence of autoimmune disorders. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune thyroiditis, Sjögren’s syndrome or a host of other such conditions carry a substantially increased risk for another autoimmune disease. Although some pairings are reported more frequently than others, the likelihood that a patient with any autoimmune disorder will ultimately acquire another autoimmune disorder is high. The question, then, is why.