Since there are 100+ autoimmune diseases, is there any kind of screening test that a Dr can perform that will say ‘yeah there might be an autoimmune disease here, lets investigate further’? If so, what is that called? I’m under the impression, perhaps wrongly, that most tests are for individual autoimmune disorders and not for the entire spectrum.
Is there a broad spectrum autoimmune test, and if positive then they start testing for individual diseases based on symptoms?
What about an ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), CRP or ANA test?
Is a general test for inflammation considered a marker for a potential auto immune disorder?
If a Dr suspects an autoimmune disorder, is there a test that points to that, which can then be narrowed down to an individual disorder? if so, how does that work? Is there a single test that’ll mean you likely have an autoimmune disorder?
If so, then what? Are there other tests which are somewhat general or are all the tests after that only for individual diseases? If so, how do those work? Do they test for antibodies, or do they just go based on symptoms?
From this site
See also:
Diagnostic Testing and Interpretation of Tests for Autoimmunity
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Feb; 125(2 Suppl 2): S238–S247.
Short simple answer is no.
In the absence of a clinical picture that already strongly suggests a specific autoimmune disease the vast vast vast majority of positive tests that some think of as screening for autoimmune disease (as a broad group, rather than say TSH for hypothyroidism, or fasting glucose for diabetes) will be false positives generally then resulting in expensive and even sometime invasive needless evaluations which at best delay dealing with actual issues that need to be dealt with.
My rheumatologist did a broad range of tests for weird joint inflammation and pain. It took 9 vials of blood.
I’d hate to think how much blood would be needed for testing for all autoimmune disorders!