BACKGROUND

Autoimmune diseases affect around 3-5% of human beings, especially women. Due to its low prevalence, local clinical data on the behavior of this disease are unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To find the prevalence of autoimmune diseases in the University Hospital of Santander, as well as to carry out the clinical and sociodemographic characterization of the diseases.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

An observational, descriptive and retrospective cross-sectional study on the prevalence of autoimmune diseases was done at the University Hospital of Santander between 2012 and 2016 in patients over 13 years of age who entered to the institution.

RESULTS

A total of 1463 autoimmune diseases were found, with a prevalence of 378 cases per 100,000 patients over 13 years of age treated at the University Hospital of Santander and the population with autoimmune disease was 0.4%. The most prevalent diseases were rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Graves’ disease, immune thrombocytopenic purpura and systemic lupus erythematosus and the most affected organs were the skin, thyroid gland, hematology system, pancreas and nervous system.

CONCLUSIONS

The data suggest that the prevalence in our environment is similar to that of studies in other populations; however, these prevalences are multifactorial and may vary among different populations.

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