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Sex Differences in the Adult Human Brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank Participants
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Abstract
Sex differences in the human brain are of interest for many reasons: for example, there are sex differences in the observed prevalence of psychiatric disorders and in some psychological traits that brain differences might help to explain. We report the largest single-sample study of structural and functional sex differences in the human brain (2750 female, 2466 male participants; mean age 61.7 years, range 44-77 years). Males had higher raw volumes, raw surface areas, and white matter fractional anisotropy; females had higher raw cortical thickness and higher white matter tract complexity. There was considerable distributional overlap between the sexes. Subregional differences were not fully attributable to differences in total volume, total surface area, mean cortical thickness, or height. There was generally greater male variance across the raw structural measures. Functional connectome organization showed stronger connectivity for males in unimodal sensorimotor cortices, and stronger connectivity for females in the default mode network. This large-scale study provides a foundation for attempts to understand the causes and consequences of sex differences in adult brain structure and function.
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“Sex-related differences in brain structure and function have been consistently reported across large-scale neuroimaging studies, involving both global and regional measures such as total brain volume, cortical thickness, white matter microstructure, and functional connectivity [29,30,31,32].”
From Benchmarking Multimodal Deep Fusion Strategies for Heterogeneous Neuroimaging and Cognitive Data Using a Controlled Sex Classification Task (2026) · cites this paper as [31]
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“As sex differences exist in brain morphology,33”
From Sex Differences in the Association of Global Amyloid and Regional Tau Deposition Measured by Positron Emission Tomography in Clinically Normal Older Adults (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
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“Memory impairment is similarly found among patients with Cushing disease and Cushing syndrome (694).”
From Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia—Current Insights in Pathophysiology, Diagnostics, and Management (2022) · cites this paper as [694]
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“In accord, studies of large public-domain data set have provided robust evidence for sex differences in structural morphometric features and functional connectomes (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
Sex-related human brain asymmetry in hemispheric functional gradients
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X-chromosome influences on neuroanatomical variation in humans
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A comparison of methods to harmonize cortical thickness measurements across scanners and sites
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Sex Differences in the Amygdala Resting-State Connectome of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
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“Here we sought to characterize sex differences in amygdala rsfMRI connectivity in ASD—a brain region displaying both sex differences in typical development and alteration in ASD (3, 7).”
BackgroundThe adverse effect of gradient nonlinearities on diffusion MRI: From voxels to group studies
Mesri, H. Y., Dávid, S., Viergever, M. A., & Leemans, A. (2019) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116127 · Cited by 51
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“On the other hand, it is commonly reported that the larger body size in males results in the larger crania, higher proportion of white matter, and more significant cerebrospinal fluid volume (CSF) (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundZhu, J., Wang, C., Qian, Y., Cai, H., Zhang, S., Zhang, C., Zhao, W., Zhang, T., Zhang, B., Chen, J., et al. (2021) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2021.110468 · Cited by 51
Lafta, M. S., Mwinyi, J., Affatato, O., Rukh, G., Dang, J., Andersson, G., & Schiöth, H. B. (2024) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2024.1340108 · Cited by 58
Li, G., Tong, R. M., Zhang, M., Gillen, K. M., Jiang, W., Du, Y., Wang, Y., & Li, J. (2023) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119923 · Cited by 49
“This finding is consistent with a recent study which showed that an age-related decrease in the adjusted volume of the caudate nucleus was greater in females than in males (78), but is inconsistent with other findings that used raw volume (38, 55, 79) or another TIV-adjustment method (22).”
ResultGender differences in functional connectivity during emotion regulation
Stoica, T., Knight, L. K., Naaz, F., Patton, S. C., & Depue, B. E. (2021) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107829 · Cited by 52
Lavanga, M., Stumme, J., Yalçınkaya, B. H., Fousek, J., Jockwitz, C., Sheheitli, H., Bittner, N., Hashemi, M., Petkoski, S., Caspers, S., et al. (2023) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120403 · Cited by 58
“…age itself needs to be elucidated further in future studies, as it has been shown to be related to differences in structural and functional connectivity and potentially different trajectories of their reorganization during aging (Ficek-Tani et al., 2023; Ritchie et al., 2018; Sang et al., 2021).”
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“Despite previous research demonstrating neuroanatomical sex differences (28,33), we found largely similar patterns of connectome aging across men and women (redge-age correlations = .”
Self-citationSanchis‐Segura, C., Aguirre, N., Cruz-Gómez, Á. J., Félix, S., & Forn, C. (2022) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119343 · Cited by 48
Brain-Based Predictions of Psychiatric Illness–Linked Behaviors Across the Sexes
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Brain age prediction: Cortical and subcortical shape covariation in the developing human brain
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A quantified comparison of cortical atlases on the basis of trait morphometricity
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“…that are well-measured in UKB and known to be morphometric, that is, robustly associated with grey-matter structure: age (Cole et al., 2018), sex (Ritchie et al., 2018), cognitive abilities (Cox, Ritchie, Fawns-Ritchie, Tucker-Drob, & Deary, 2019), body mass index (Couvy-Duchesne et al., 2020),…”
Self-citationDreaMR: Diffusion-Driven Counterfactual Explanation for Functional MRI
Bedel, H. A., & Çukur, T. (2024) · IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging · doi:10.1109/tmi.2024.3507008 · Cited by 53
“reported resting-state connectivity patterns for females and males [10], [57].”
Sex Differences in Cognitive Flexibility and Resting Brain Networks in Middle-Aged Marmosets
LaClair, M., Febo, M., Nephew, B. C., Gervais, N. J., Poirier, G. L., Workman, K. P., Chumachenko, S. Y., Payne, L., Moore, M. C., King, J. A., et al. (2019) · eNeuro · doi:10.1523/eneuro.0154-19.2019 · Cited by 42
“Human studies have suggested that sex differences in cognition are represented at the neural level by sex differences in the brain connectome (Gong et al., 2011; Ingalhalikar et al., 2014; Satterthwaite et al., 2015; Tunç et al., 2016; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundPalumbo, L., Bosco, P., Fantacci, M. E., Ferrari, E., Oliva, P., Spera, G., & Retico, A. (2019) · Physica Medica · doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2019.07.016 · Cited by 43
Subramaniapillai, S., Suri, S., Barth, C., Maximov, I. I., Voldsbekk, I., van der Meer, D., Gurholt, T. P., Beck, D., Draganski, B., Andreassen, O. A., et al. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25882 · Cited by 41
Sex differences in default mode network connectivity in healthy aging adults
Ficek, B., Horien, C. L., Ju, S., Xu, W., Li, N., Lacadie, C., Shen, X., Scheinost, D., Constable, R. T., & Fredericks, C. A. (2022) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhac491 · Cited by 46
Self-citationAdvances in Studying Brain Morphology: The Benefits of Open-Access Data
Madan, C. R. (2017) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2017.00405 · Cited by 40
“…distribution-related insights are not limited to only characterizing patient populations, as recent findings have also demonstrated sex differences in the volume of many brain structures (Ritchie et al., 2017;Wierenga et al., 2017), with greater variability being found across males than females.”
BackgroundRecommendations for a Better Understanding of Sex and Gender in the Neuroscience of Mental Health
Wierenga, L. M., Ruigrok, A. N. V., Aksnes, E. R., Barth, C., Beck, D., Burke, S., Crestol, A., van Drunen, L., Ferrara, M., Galea, L. A. M., et al. (2023) · Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science · doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.100283 · Cited by 49
Studholme, C., Kroenke, C. D., & Dighe, M. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16763-y · Cited by 45
Sex Differences in Brain and Cognition in de novo Parkinson's Disease
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“Adult males have larger volumes than females in some subcortical gray matter structures, such as the nuclei accumbens, according to a study performed in a sample of 5,216 participants with an age range between 44 and 77 years (Ritchie et al., 2018); as well as, the amygdala, hippocampus, and putamen, according to othe…”
ResultMeasuring Sex Differences and Similarities
Giudice, M. D. (2022) · Focus on sexuality research · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-84273-4_1 · Cited by 43
Population-based body–brain mapping links brain morphology with anthropometrics and body composition
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Neurobiological Sex Differences in Developmental Dyslexia
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Person-Based Brain Morphometric Similarity is Heritable and Correlates With Biological Features
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“it appears that across the lifespan the regional variance in subcortical volumes is lower in women than in men (Wierenga et al. 2017; Ritchie et al. 2018).”
BackgroundInfluentialOltra, J., Segura, B., Uribe, C., Monté, G. C., Campabadal, A., Inguanzo, A., Pardo, J., Martı́, M. J., Compta, Y., Valldeoriola, F., et al. (2021) · Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1007/s00415-021-10728-x · Cited by 37
Confound Removal and Normalization in Practice: A Neuroimaging Based Sex Prediction Case Study
More, S., Eickhoff, S. B., Caspers, J., & Patil, K. R. (2021) · Lecture Notes in Computer Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-67670-4_1 · Cited by 37
“Accordingly there has been an increasing interest in finding sex differences in structural and functional properties of the brain [41, 30, 29].”
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Baldinger, P., Urquijo-Castro, M. F., Seiger, R., Ruef, A., Dwyer, D., Kranz, G. S., Klöbl, M., Kambeitz, J. P., Kaufmann, U., Windischberger, C., et al. (2019) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhz170 · Cited by 39
“At the neuroanatomical level, sex differences have been repeatedly observed, in particular mean lower total intracranial volume (TIV), but larger overall cortical volume relative to cerebrum size, in female as compared to male individuals (Goldstein et al. 2001; Cahill 2006; Ritchie et al. 2018).”
Rechtman, E., Curtin, P. C. P., Papazaharias, D. M., Renzetti, S., Cagna, G., Peli, M., Levin‐Schwartz, Y., Placidi, D., Smith, D. R., Lucchini, R. G., et al. (2020) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-020-01041-8 · Cited by 37
Brain Development and Physical Aggression
Eliot, L. (2021) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/711705 · Cited by 44
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Self-citationOlson, L., Mash, L. E., Linke, A. C., Fong, C., Müller, R., & Fishman, I. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320938194 · Cited by 36
“First, our findings on neurotypical sex differentiation in the DMN observed in the TD group align with those of previous studies of typical adults, showing higher DMN connectivity in females compared to males (Biswal et al., 2010; Jung et al., 2015; Ritchie et al., 2018; Tomasi & Volkow, 2012), suggesting that DMN net…”
ResultInfluentialMetabolite activity in the anterior cingulate cortex during a painful stimulus using functional MRS
Archibald, J., MacMillan, E. L., Graf, C., Kozłowski, P., Laule, C., & Kramer, J. L. K. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76263-3 · Cited by 39
Pallier, P. N., Ferrara, M., Romagnolo, F., Ferretti, M. T., Soreq, H., & Cerase, A. (2022) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102353 · Cited by 37
Ballester, P. L., Suh, J. S., Nogovitsyn, N., Hassel, S., Strother, S. C., Arnott, S. R., Minuzzi, L., Sassi, R. B., Lam, R. W. M., Milev, R. V., et al. (2021) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102864 · Cited by 35
“A possible step for improving the prediction error would be to run separate models for males and females (Ritchie et al., 2018), which would require a larger sample size.”
BackgroundLinking sarcopenia, brain structure and cognitive performance: a large-scale UK Biobank study
Gurholt, T. P., Borda, M. G., Parker, N., Fominykh, V., Kjelkenes, R., Linge, J., van der Meer, D., Sønderby, I. E., Duque, G., Westlye, L. T., et al. (2024) · Brain Communications · doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcae083 · Cited by 37
“45,46 We adjusted for ethnic ancestry because sarcopenic traits may be sensitive to ethnic origin or related socioeconomic factors, 47 higher education because it may be a protective factor for the development of cognitive impairments, 48 body mass index because it is correlated with muscle mass…”
BackgroundSex differences and brain development during puberty and adolescence
Peper, J. S., Burke, S., & Wierenga, L. M. (2020) · Handbook of clinical neurology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64123-6.00003-5 · Cited by 42
Zhang, Y., Luo, Q., Huang, C., Lo, C. Z., Langley, C., Desrivières, S., Quinlan, E. B., Banaschewski, T., Millenet, S., Bokde, A. L. W., et al. (2020) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaa408 · Cited by 39
“, the cingulate cortex, angular cortex, and precuneus) with the most differences in their functional connectivity were all identified within the DMN and these differences were also supported by previous studies using smaller samples at different age groups (Lombardo et al. 2018; Ritchie et al. 2018; Ernst et al. 2019).”
ResultThe MRi-Share database: brain imaging in a cross-sectional cohort of 1870 university students
Tsuchida, A., Laurent, A., Crivello, F., Petit, L., Joliot, M., Pepe, A., Beguedou, N., Gueye, M.-F., Verrecchia, V., Nozais, V., et al. (2021) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-021-02334-4 · Cited by 40
The Link Between Autism and Sex-Related Neuroanatomy, and Associated Cognition and Gene Expression
Floris, D. L., Peng, H., Warrier, V., Lombardo, M. V., Pretzsch, C. M., Moreau, C. A., Tsompanidis, A., Gong, W., Mennes, M., Llera, A., et al. (2022) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.20220194 · Cited by 36
Self-citationKilpatrick, L. A., Holmberg, M., Manzouri, A., & Savic, I. (2019) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.14420 · Cited by 35
Gheorghe, D. A., Li, C., Gallacher, J., & Bauermeister, S. (2021) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.13298 · Cited by 34
“IDPs were adjusted for age and sex, variables known to be associated with brain volume differences, including in UK Biobank participants (Cox et al., 2016; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
MethodBegdache, L., Sadeghzadeh, S., Derose, G., & Abrams, C. (2020) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu13010024 · Cited by 38
“The larger total brain volume is primarily in the grey matter (GM) of the subcortical regions [21], which is generally in information-processing areas.”
BackgroundAre Sex Differences in Human Brain Structure Associated With Sex Differences in Behavior?
van Eijk, L., Zhu, D., Couvy‐Duchesne, B., Strike, L. T., Lee, A. J., Hansell, N. K., Thompson, P. M., de Zubicaray, G. I., McMahon, K. L., Wright, M. J., et al. (2021) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797621996664 · Cited by 34
“, 2014), even after adjusting for body height (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundInfluentialWhite matter microstructure shows sex differences in late childhood: Evidence from 6797 children
Lawrence, K. E., Abaryan, Z., Laltoo, E., Hernandez, L. M., Gandal, M. J., McCracken, J. T., & Thompson, P. M. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.26079 · Cited by 34
“The opposite pattern is observed in adults: sex differences in FA are generally consistent across tracts in adulthood, but sex differences in MD, AD, and RD are regionally specific (Cox et al., 2021; Lawrence et al., 2021; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialAcceleration of Brain Atrophy and Progression From Normal Cognition to Mild Cognitive Impairment
Uchida, Y., Nishimaki, K., Soldan, A., Moghekar, A., Albert, M., & Oishi, K. (2024) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.41505 · Cited by 36
Zhao, L., Matloff, W. J., Shi, Y., Cabeen, R. P., & Toga, A. W. (2021) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.11.002 · Cited by 32
Testosterone and the Brain: From Cognition to Autism
Ostatníková, D., Lakatošová, S., Babková, J., Hodosy, J., & Celec, P. (2021) · Physiological Research · doi:10.33549/10.33549/physiolres.934592 · Cited by 32
Nerland, S., Stokkan, T. S., Jørgensen, K. N., Wortinger, L. A., Richard, G., Beck, D., van der Meer, D., Westlye, L. T., Andreassen, O. A., Agartz, I., et al. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25978 · Cited by 32
“There are contradictory results in the literature on the presence and strength of sexual dimorphism in brain volumes and age-related associations with brain volumes (Fjell et al., 2009; Inano et al., 2013; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundVariability in energy expenditure is much greater in males than females
Halsey, L. G., Careau, V., Pontzer, H., Ainslie, P. N., Andersen, L. F., Anderson, L. J., Arab, L., Baddou, I., Bedu-Addo, K., Blaak, E. E., et al. (2022) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103229 · Cited by 34
“Morphological traits include birth weight, adult weight and height, body mass index, and brain structure (Lehre et al., 2009; Ritchie et al., 2017; Wierenga et al., 2017, 2020; Forde et al., 2020).”
de Ribera, O. S., Kavish, N., Katz, I. M., & Boutwell, B. B. (2019) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.2207 · Cited by 34
“…in psychopathic and other antisocial traits (e.g. Cale & Lilienfeld, 2002), some evidence for modest differences in cognitive abilities (e.g. Ritchie et al., 2018), and evidence for differences in neuroanatomical features that are correlated to emotions and decision making (e.g. Ritchie et…”
BackgroundBrain charts for the human lifespanPreprint
Bethlehem, R. A. I., Seidlitz, J., White, S. R., Vogel, J. W., Anderson, K., Adamson, C. L., Adler, S., Alexopoulos, G. S., Anagnostou, E. A., Areces-González, A., et al. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.06.08.447489 · Cited by 32
Robust sex differences in functional brain connectivity are present in utero
Cook, K. M., De Asis-Cruz, J., Lopez, C., Quistorff, J., Kapse, K., Andersen, N., Vezina, G., & Limperopoulos, C. (2023) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhac218 · Cited by 31
Considering the interconnected nature of social identities in neuroimaging research
Dhamala, E., Ricard, J. A., Uddin, L. Q., Galea, L. A. M., Jacobs, E. G., Yip, S. W., Yeo, B. T. T., Chakravarty, M. M., & Holmes, A. J. (2024) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-024-01832-y · Cited by 29
“Initial work has focused on the appropriate consideration of sex, gender, and diverse ancestries and cultures when examining the genetic, anatomical and functional underpinnings of human behavior 56,104,105 .”
Boucher, F. J. O., & Chinnah, T. I. (2020) · Adolescent Health Medicine and Therapeutics · doi:10.2147/ahmt.s259168 · Cited by 31
Meeker, T. J., Veldhuijzen, D. S., Keaser, M. L., Gullapalli, R. P., & Greenspan, J. D. (2020) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.594588 · Cited by 31
Dhamala, E., Jamison, K. W., Jaywant, A., & Kuceyeski, A. F. (2021) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25709 · Cited by 31
“…function and structure (Cummings et al., 2020; De Bellis et al., 2001; Ruben C Gur et al., 1999; Ingalhalikar et al., 2014; Kogler et al., 2016; Ritchie et al., 2018; Rodriguez, Warkentin, Risberg, & Rosadini, 1988; Scheinost et al., 2015; Weis, Hodgetts, & Hausmann, 2019; Weis, Patil, et al.,…”
Foo, H., Thalamuthu, A., Jiang, J., Koch, F. C., Mather, K. A., Wen, W. X., & Sachdev, P. S. (2021) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.758817 · Cited by 35
“Taken together, the findings show that sex may influence age-related functional reorganization in the brain and that improving our understanding of this may shed light onto why some cognitive abilities differ substantially by sex (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundPrefrontal-habenular microstructural impairments in human cocaine and heroin addiction
King, S. G., Gaudreault, P., Malaker, P., Kim, J.-W., Nelly Alia-klein, A., Xu, J., & Goldstein, R. Z. (2022) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2022.09.011 · Cited by 31
Begdache, L., Kianmehr, H., Sabounchi, N. S., Chaar, M., & Marhaba, J. (2018) · Nutritional Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/1028415x.2018.1500198 · Cited by 33
Ku, B. S., Aberizk, K., Addington, J., Bearden, C. E., Cadenhead, K. S., Cannon, T. D., Carrión, R. E., Compton, M. T., Cornblatt, B. A., Druss, B. G., et al. (2022) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbac055 · Cited by 30
Altered Development of Amygdala-Connected Brain Regions in Males and Females with Autism
Lee, J. K., Andrews, D. S., Öztürk, A., Solomon, M., Rogers, S. J., Amaral, D. G., & Nordahl, C. W. (2022) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0053-22.2022 · Cited by 32
Yeung, H. W., Stolicyn, A., Buchanan, C. R., Tucker–Drob, E. M., Bastin, M. E., Luz, S. F., McIntosh, A. M., Whalley, H. C., Cox, S. R., & Smith, K. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.26182 · Cited by 27
“…that differences in connectomic properties between people, particularly for global network measures, are associated with basic demographic variables namely age and sex, both of which are important predictors of brain health (Buchanan et al., 2020; Madole et al., 2021; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe Effects of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors on Neurogenesis
Jiang, M. H., Jang, S. E., & Zeng, L. (2023) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells12091285 · Cited by 34
“The most striking difference in brain morphology between males and females is size, with males having, on average, a larger brain than females [246].”
BackgroundFrom means to meaning in the study of sex/gender differences and similarities
Sanchis‐Segura, C., & Wilcox, R. R. (2024) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2024.101133 · Cited by 36
“…males show a high degree of overlap in most traits, and individual differences within the members of each of these categories can be as large or even larger than that existing between their averages (e.g., (Hyde, 2014; Maney, 2016; Reis and Carothers, 2014; Ritchie et al., 2018; Zell et al., 2015).”
Abnormal subgenual anterior cingulate circuitry is unique to women but not men with chronic pain
Osborne, N. R., Cheng, J. C., Rogachov, A., Kim, J. A., Hemington, K. S., Bosma, R. L., Inman, R. D., & Davis, K. D. (2020) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002016 · Cited by 33
“Sex differences in brain structure and functional organization exist across ages.(10,18,59,61,77) Neural circuitry differences may explain the sex-related differences in the efficacy of certain pain”
BackgroundRossetti, M. G., Patalay, P., Mackey, S., Allen, N. B., Batalla, A., Bellani, M., Chye, Y., Cousijn, J., Goudriaan, A. E., Hester, R., et al. (2021) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102636 · Cited by 30
“However, there is also evidence showing that gender differences diminish (Ritchie et al., 2018) or disappear (Jäncke et al 2015) when adjusting for overall brain size.”
Gaudreault, P., King, S. G., Malaker, P., Alia‐Klein, N., & Goldstein, R. Z. (2022) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-022-01833-y · Cited by 29
“Another limitation lies in the underrepresentation of women in our sample, which should be specifically addressed in upcoming studies to understand the possible gender-related differences in WM microstructure effects, as suggested in a population study of WM integrity [90].”
BackgroundTravica, N., Ried, K., Hudson, I. L., Sali, A., Scholey, A. B., & Pipingas, A. (2020) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2020.00047 · Cited by 31
“The largest single-sample study of structural and functional sex differences in the human brain revealed that males had substantially larger brain volumes and surface areas, whereas females had thicker cortices (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundSerio, B., Hettwer, M. D., Wiersch, L., Bignardi, G., Sacher, J., Weis, S., Eickhoff, S. B., & Valk, S. L. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51942-1 · Cited by 28
“Finally, we took the well-replicated principal gradient explaining the most variance in the data and spanning from visual to DMN regions 10 , which we labeled the S-A axis and used to represent functional organization for subsequent analyses.”
InfluentialGray, J. C., Owens, M. M., Hyatt, C. S., & Miller, J. D. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204011 · Cited by 27
Structural differences between male and female brains
Eileen Luders, A., & Kurth, F. (2020) · Handbook of clinical neurology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-64123-6.00001-1 · Cited by 28
Sex-specific interaction between cortisol and striato-limbic responses to psychosocial stress
Henze, G., Konzok, J., Kreuzpointner, L., Bärtl, C., Giglberger, M., Peter, H. L., Streit, F., Kudielka, B. M., Kirsch, P., & Wüst, S. (2021) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsab062 · Cited by 28
“imaging techniques, sex differences in the brain were found, covering – among others – anatomical variables, connectivity measures, as well as neural correlates in affect and cognitive functions (Cahill, 2006; Choleris et al., 2018; Grabowska, 2017; Ingalhalikar et al., 2014a; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundBrain and cognitive ageing: The present, and some predictions (…about the future)
Cox, S. R., & Deary, I. J. (2022) · Aging Brain · doi:10.1016/j.nbas.2022.100032 · Cited by 29
“2 rience these global and regional aspects of brain structural ageing, particularly for volumetric measures after the reliable differences in head size [26,68] are accounted for [12,15,28,39,62].”
BackgroundSelf-citationCortés, C. J., & Miguel, Z. D. (2022) · Brain Plasticity · doi:10.3233/bpl-220139 · Cited by 34
“For example, human males show a 10–12 % larger volume of certain brain regions [1] and genetic sex differences in gene content and dosage [2] are known to lead to differences in immune regulation and brain function [3–5].”
BackgroundSleep EEG functional connectivity varies with age and sex, but not general intelligence
Ujma, P. P., Konrad, B. N., Simor, P., Gombos, F., Körmendi, J., Steiger, A., Dresler, M., & Bódizs, R. (2019) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.02.007 · Cited by 28
Valenchon, J., & Coates, M. (2019) · IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing · doi:10.1109/icassp.2019.8683433 · Cited by 27
“eu funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 666992 MRI-derived brain volumes of cortical subregions are potential predictors, and larger values are observed for men [3, 4].”
BackgroundRossetti, M. G., Mackey, S., Patalay, P., Allen, N. B., Batalla, A., Bellani, M., Chye, Y., Conrod, P., Cousijn, J., Garavan, H., et al. (2021) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-021-01382-y · Cited by 29
Katsumi, Y., Wong, B., Cavallari, M., Fong, T. G., Alsop, D. C., Andreano, J. M., Carvalho, N., Brickhouse, M. J., Jones, R. N., Libermann, T. A., et al. (2022) · Brain Communications · doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcac163 · Cited by 28
Relating Cognition to both Brain Structure and Function: A Systematic Review of Methods
Litwińczuk, M. C., Trujillo‐Barreto, N. J., Muhlert, N., Cloutman, L. L., & Woollams, A. M. (2022) · Brain Connectivity · doi:10.1089/brain.2022.0036 · Cited by 31
“The relationship between brain structure and function appears to have profound consequences for understanding cognition (Ford and Kensinger, 2014; Hu et al, 2013; Jandric et al, 2021; Mander et al, 2017; Ritchie et al, 2018; Sun et al, 2017).”
BackgroundMaggioni, E., Rossetti, M. G., Allen, N. B., Batalla, A., Bellani, M., Chye, Y., Cousijn, J., Goudriaan, A. E., Hester, R., Hutchison, K. E., et al. (2023) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.26404 · Cited by 27
“ebellar and frontotemporal circuit volumes from development onwards (Delvecchio et al., 2021; Ritchie et al., 2018; Sullivan et al., 2020).”
BackgroundMultilevel Mapping of Sexual Dimorphism in Intrinsic Functional Brain Networks
de Lacy, N., McCauley, E., Kutz, J. N., & Calhoun, V. D. (2019) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00332 · Cited by 27
“A recent large study of older adults from the UK brain biobank confirmed overall thicker cortices in women, but more variation among men in regional volumes, gyrification and cortical thickness (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundLeming, M., & Suckling, J. (2021) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118409 · Cited by 20
Bray, N. W., Pieruccini‐Faria, F., Witt, S. T., Rockwood, K. J., Bartha, R., Doherty, T. J., Nagamatsu, L. S., Almeida, Q. J., Liu-Ambrose, T. Y. L., Middleton, L. E., et al. (2022) · GeroScience · doi:10.1007/s11357-022-00702-4 · Cited by 29
A unified framework for association and prediction from vertex‐wise grey‐matter structure
Couvy‐Duchesne, B., Strike, L. T., Zhang, F., Holtz, Y., Zheng, Z., Kemper, K. E., Yengo, L., Olivier Colliot, A., Wright, M. J., Wray, N. R., et al. (2020) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25109 · Cited by 23
Current perspectives on sex differences in tension-type headache
Fuensalida‐Novo, S., Jiménez‐Antona, C., Benito-González, E., Cigarán‐Méndez, M., Parás‐Bravo, P., & Fernández‐de‐las‐Peñas, C. (2020) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1080/14737175.2020.1780121 · Cited by 25
“[22] reported interesting results in relation to nociceptive pain mechanisms.”
BackgroundResultSex, diabetes status and cognition: findings from the study of longevity in diabetes
Moran, C., Gilsanz, P., Beeri, M. S., Whitmer, R. A., & LACY, M. E. (2021) · BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care · doi:10.1136/bmjdrc-2020-001646 · Cited by 25
Sexual Dimorphism in Brain Development: Influence on Affective Disorders
López-Ojeda, W., & Hurley, R. A. (2021) · Journal of Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.neuropsych.20100269 · Cited by 24
“Other groups have shown decreased or no sex differences when statistically correcting for brain volume (13, 64, 65).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Ritchie, S. J., Cox, S. R., Shen, X., Lombardo, M. V., Reus, L. M., Alloza, C., Harris, M. A., Alderson, H. L., Hunter, S., Neilson, E., Liewald, D. C. M., Auyeung, B., Whalley, H. C., Lawrie, S. M., Gale, C. R., Bastin, M. E., McIntosh, A. M., & Deary, I. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Queen Margaret Hospital (GB)
- NHS Lothian (GB)
- Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Corresponding author
- Ritchie, Stuart J
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-05-16
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2959-2975
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- PMC
- PMC6041980
- OpenAlex
- W2952574438
- Cited by
- 855
- References
- 125
- Citations by year
- 2026: 75 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 110 · 2022: 105 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 138 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 35
- FWCI
- 88.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- CCACE (MR/K026992/1)
- MRC (MR/M013111/1)
- Dementias Platform UK (MR/L015382/1)
- STRADL (104036/Z/14/Z)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Sex and Gender in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Keywords
- sex differences, adult human brain, brain structure, brain function, brain volume, cortical thickness, white matter fractional anisotropy, functional connectome, default mode network, sensorimotor cortex, UK Biobank
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Oxygen, Rest, Sex Characteristics, Biological Specimen Banks, Community Health Planning, Connectome, White Matter
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