More than 50 million Americans, most of them women, suffer from a constellation of mysterious, often misdiagnosed diseases that can result in disability, disfigurement, and death. Called "autoimmune diseases," they arise when the immune system attacks healthy tissues in almost any area of the body, and include lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, scleroderma, and Graves' disease.

Now Jill Buyon, a doctor working on the cutting edge of research into these diseases, and Rita Baron-Faust, an award-winning medical journalist, arm women with the knowledge they need to obtain accurate diagnoses and the best possible treatments.

In The Autoimmune Connection readers learn about the recent groundbreaking discovery of the links between the different autoimmune diseases and why women are more likely to develop them. The authors offer the most up-to-date information on diagnosis, treatments, and risks for women with one or more autoimmune disease.