The 80% Club: Why Autoimmune Disease Hits Women — and Mothers — Hardest
80% of all autoimmune disease cases affect women. Lupus is 9x more common in women. Sjögren's syndrome 19x. This isn't biological bad luck — researchers now believe chronic stress and caregiving burdens are part of the explanation.
When we talk about women's health, we often talk about reproductive health — pregnancy, birth, menopause. What we talk about less: the staggering disproportion of autoimmune disease in women. 80% of the 50 million Americans living with autoimmune disease are women. In some specific conditions, the ratio is far more extreme.
The Numbers
80% of autoimmune disease cases affect women
Lupus is 9x more common in women. Sjögren's syndrome is 19x more common. Rheumatoid arthritis affects women 2–3x more frequently. Women with autoimmune diseases face higher cardiovascular death rates than men with the same conditions — and receive less aggressive care. (AARDA / Stanford Medicine, 2024)
Researchers at Stanford published findings in 2024 suggesting that the X chromosome — which women have two copies of — may be part of the biological explanation. But biology alone doesn't explain the timing, the severity, or why the disparity has been growing. Chronic stress, researchers believe, is the activating factor: something that triggers a genetic predisposition into an active disease.
Caregiving, Stress, and the Body That Turns on Itself
The poetic brutality of autoimmune disease is in its mechanism. The body's immune system — designed to protect — begins attacking the body's own tissue. Researchers increasingly see this as connected to the self-erasure of chronic caregiving, the suppression of one's own needs year after year, eventually registering in the immune system as a threat.
Women who are poor, caregiving, and under chronic stress face a compounded risk. Stress suppresses immune regulation. Poverty limits access to treatment. Caregiving responsibilities make it harder to rest, attend appointments, and prioritize one's own care. The disease progresses faster and is treated later.
“Autoimmune disease doesn't just happen to women. It happens to women who have been running on empty for too long.”
This is not inevitable. Better support systems reduce chronic stress. Universal healthcare reduces the gap in treatment access. Recognizing the mental load as a health issue — not just a fairness issue — changes what we think needs to change.
Becky Tsadilas
Founder, Momera — Movement of Mothers Ending Poverty. Based in Cochrane, Alberta. hello@momera.ca