Greater male than female variability in regional brain structure across the lifespan.
Lara M WierengaGaelle Eve DoucetDanai DimaIngrid AgartzMoji AghajaniTheophilus N AkudjeduAnton Albajes-EizagirreDag AlnaesKathryn I AlpertOle A AndreassenAlan AnticevicPhilip AshersonTobias BanaschewskiNuria BargalloSarah BaumeisterRamona Baur-StreubelAlessandro BertolinoAurora BonvinoDorret I BoomsmaStefan BorgwardtJosiane BourqueAnouk den BraberDaniel BrandeisAlan BreierHenry BrodatyRachel M BrouwerJan K BuitelaarGeraldo F BusattoVince D CalhounErick J Canales-RodríguezDara M CannonXavier CaserasFrancisco X CastellanosTiffany M Chaim-AvanciniChristopher R K ChingVincent P ClarkPatricia J ConrodAnnette ConzelmannFabrice CrivelloChristopher G DaveyErin W DickieStefan EhrlichDennis Van't EntSimon E FisherJean-Paul FoucheBarbara FrankePaola Fuentes-ClaramonteEco Jc de GeusAnnabella Di GiorgioDavid C GlahnIan H GotlibHans J GrabeOliver GruberPatricia GrunerRaquel E GurRuben C GurTiril Pedersen GurholtLieuwe de HaanBeathe HaatveitBen J HarrisonCatharina A HartmanSean N HattonDirk J HeslenfeldOdile A van den HeuvelIan B HickiePieter J HoekstraSarah HohmannAvram J HolmesMartine HoogmanNorbert HostenFleur M HowellsHilleke E Hulshoff PolChaim HuyserNeda JahanshadAnthony C JamesJiyang JiangErik G JönssonJohn A JoskaAndrew J Kalninnull nullMarieke KleinLaura KoendersKnut K KolskårBernd KrämerJonna KuntsiJim LagopoulosLuisa LazaroIrina S LebedevaPhil H LeeChristine LochnerMarise Wj MachielsenSophie MaingaultNicholas G MartinIgnacio Martínez-ZalacaínDavid Mataix-ColsBernard MazoyerBrenna C McDonaldColm McDonaldAndrew M McIntoshKatie L McMahonGenevieve McPhilemyDennis van der MeerJosé M MenchónJilly NaaijenLars NybergJaap OosterlaanYannis PaloyelisPaul PauliGiulio PergolaEdith Pomarol-ClotetMaria J PortellaJoaquim RaduaAndreas ReifGeneviève RichardJoshua L RoffmanPedro Gp RosaMatthew D SacchetPerminder S SachdevRaymond SalvadorSalvador SarróTheodore D SatterthwaiteAndrew J SaykinMauricio H SerpaKang SimAndrew SimmonsJordan W SmollerIris E SommerCarles Soriano-MasDan J SteinLachlan T StrikePhilip R SzeszkoHenk S TemminghSophia I ThomopoulosAlexander S TomyshevJulian N TrollorAnne UhlmannIlya M VeerDick J VeltmanAristotle VoineskosHenry VölzkeHenrik WalterLei WangYang WangBernd WeberWei WenJohn D WestLars T WestlyeHeather C WhalleySteven Cr WilliamsKatharina WittfeldDaniel H WolfMargaret J WrightYuliya N YonchevaMarcus V ZanettiGeorg C ZieglerGreig I de ZubicarayPaul M ThompsonEveline A CroneSophia FrangouChristian K TamnesPublished in: Human brain mapping (2020)
For many traits, males show greater variability than females, with possible implications for understanding sex differences in health and disease. Here, the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium presents the largest-ever mega-analysis of sex differences in variability of brain structure, based on international data spanning nine decades of life. Subcortical volumes, cortical surface area and cortical thickness were assessed in MRI data of 16,683 healthy individuals 1-90 years old (47% females). We observed significant patterns of greater male than female between-subject variance for all subcortical volumetric measures, all cortical surface area measures, and 60% of cortical thickness measures. This pattern was stable across the lifespan for 50% of the subcortical structures, 70% of the regional area measures, and nearly all regions for thickness. Our findings that these sex differences are present in childhood implicate early life genetic or gene-environment interaction mechanisms. The findings highlight the importance of individual differences within the sexes, that may underpin sex-specific vulnerability to disorders.
Keyphrases
- white matter
- early life
- systematic review
- genome wide
- optical coherence tomography
- high resolution
- electronic health record
- healthcare
- resting state
- public health
- climate change
- magnetic resonance imaging
- mental health
- big data
- copy number
- multiple sclerosis
- social media
- contrast enhanced
- gene expression
- health information
- magnetic resonance
- computed tomography
- machine learning
- artificial intelligence
- cerebral ischemia
- genome wide identification