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Women with autoimmune conditions are up to 74% more likely than men to be told their symptoms are psychological or psychosomatic, and face much longer waits for a diagnosis and treatment, a study suggests.

Hundreds of millions of people – about one in 10 globally – are affected by autoimmune conditions, which can cause a range of health issues including fatigue, muscle pain and rashes.

But research by the University of Cambridge and University of East Anglia suggests a stark gender divide when it comes to how signs of the conditions are handled by doctors.

Women are more likely to have their conditions wrongly attributed to psychiatric causes, more likely to have symptoms misdiagnosed as psychosomatic, and more likely to experience delays in getting a diagnosis, according to the study.

The lead author, Melanie Sloan, said: “The damage caused to women by these types of misdiagnosis can be very long lasting in terms of trusting doctors and their own self-esteem.”

Sloan, a researcher in the department of public health and primary care at Cambridge and UEA, said some women were forced to wait years before finally getting a diagnosis, causing long delays to treatment for their condition.