Study reveals women face 74% higher risk of psychosomatic misdiagnosis for autoimmune diseases
A study published in the Lancet eClinicalMedicine finds that women with autoimmune conditions are significantly more likely than men to receive incorrect psychiatric or psychosomatic diagnoses. Women also experience substantially longer delays between symptom onset and correct diagnosis, with many waiting years for treatment. Researchers attribute these disparities to persistent historical gender biases in medicine, where women's symptoms are often dismissed as emotional or stress-related. The findings highlight the urgent need for clinicians to consider autoimmune possibilities before attributing symptoms to mental health issues.
