Citations 2
Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men
Alliende, Luz María , Medel, Vicente , Bethlehem, Richard A. I. , Ringlein, Grace , Arango, Celso , Asmal, Laila , Bellgrove, Mark A. , Bernardo, Miquel , Billeke, Pablo , Bosch‐Bayard, Jorge , Busatto, Geraldo F. , Castro, Mariana N. , Chaim-Avancini, Tiffany , Compte, Albert , Costanzi, Monise , Dazzan, Paola , Fuente‐Sandoval, Camilo de la , Díaz‐Zuluaga, Ana M. , Duran, Fábio , Fittipaldi, Sol , Fornito, Alex , Freimer, Nelson B. , Gadelha, Ary , Gama, Clarissa Severino , Ramesh, Ranjini Garani , García‐Rizo, Clemente , Campo, Cecilia González , González‐Valderrama, Alfonso , Holla, Bharath , Ibáñez, Agustín , Ivanovic, Daniza , Jackowski, Andrea Parolin , Löchner, Christine , López‐Jaramillo, Carlos , Massuda, Raffael , McGuire, Philip , Murray, Robin , Özerdem, Ayşegül , Pan, Pedro Mário , Parellada, Mara , Phahladira, Lebogan, Ramírez-Mahaluf, Juan Pablo , Reyes-Madrigal, Francisco , Roos, Annerine , Scheffler, Freda , Stein, Dan J. , Tepper, Ángeles , Ueno, Tsukasa, Undurraga, Juan , Valli, Isabel , Villarreal, Mirta F. , Yalın, Nefize , Zamorano, Francisco , Zanetti, Marcus V. , cVEDA, Pine, Daniel S. , Evans‐Lacko, Sara , Crossley, Nicolás , Murthy, Pratima , Chakrabarti, Amit , Basu, Debasish , Subodh, B. N., Singh, Lenin, Singh, Roshan Lourembam, Kalyanram, Kartik , Kartik, Kamakshi, Kurpad, Sunita Simon , Bharath, Rose Dawn , Orfanos, Dimitri Papadopoulos , Sharma, Eesha , Alliende, Luz María , Medel, Vicente , Bethlehem, Richard A I , Benegal, Vivek , Bernardo, Miquel , Billeke, Pablo , Busatto, Geraldo F , Castro, Mariana N , Czepielewski, Leticia , de la Fuente-Sandoval, Camilo , Duran, Fabio L S , Fittipaldi, Sol , Fornito, Alex , Garani, Ranjini , Guinjoan, Salvador , Ibañez, Agustín , Ivanovic, Daniza , Lochner, Christine , Massuda, Raffael , Miyata, Jun , Mizrahi, Romina , Murray, Robin , Ramirez-Mahaluf, Juan P , Reis Marques, Tiago , Reyes-Madrigal, Francisco , Roos, Annerine , Salum, Giovanni , Stein, Dan J , Tepper, Angeles , Undurraga, Juan , Undurraga, Eduardo A , Valdes-Sosa, Pedro , Valli, Isabel , Zamorano, Francisco , Crossley, Nicolas A , López-Jaramillo, Carlos , Ozerdem, Aysegul , Yalin, Nefize , Zugman, André , Seidlitz, Jakob , Arnatkevičiūtė, Aurina , Bressan, Rodrigo A. , Forti, Marta Di , Díaz‐Caneja, Covadonga M. , Plessis, Stefan S. du , León-Ortíz, Pablo , Luckhoff, Hilmar Klaus , Phahladira, Lebogang , Reckziegel, Ramiro de Freitas Xavier , Rosa-Neto, Pedro , Serpa, Maurício Henriques , Winton‐Brown, Toby , cVEDA, Winkler, Anderson M. , Kartik, Kamakshi , Kumaran, Kalyanaraman , Krishnaveni, Ghattu Vedamurthy , Kuriyan, Rebecca , Barker, Gareth J. , Desrivières, Sylvane , Purushottam, Meera , Hickman, Matthew , Heron, Jon , Toledano, Mireille B. , Vaidya, Nilakshi
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | May 8, 2023 | Volume: 120 | Issue: 20 | Pages: No page available
Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women’s worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7,876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women’s brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality.
Intelligence, educational attainment, and brain structure in those at familial high‐risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
Zwarte, Sonja M. C. de , Brouwer, Rachel M. , Agartz, Ingrid , Alda, Martin , Alonso-Lana, Sílvia , Bearden, Carrie E. , Bonvino, Aurora , Bramon, Elvira , Buimer, Elizabeth E.L. , Canales‐Rodríguez, Erick J. , Cannon, Dara M. , Cannon, Tyrone D. , Caseras, Xavier , Chen, Qiang , Chung, Yoonho , Serna, Elena de la , Giorgio, Annabella Di , Eker, Çağdaş , Erk, Susanne , Fatjó‐Vilas, Mar , Fears, Scott C. , Foley, Sonya , Fullerton, Janice M. , Goghari, Vina M. , Goikolea, José Manuel , Goldman, Aaron L. , Gruber, Oliver , Hájek, Tomáš , Hawkins, Emma L. , Heinz, Andreas , Hıdıroğlu, Ceren , Hillegers, Manon H. J. , Houenou, Josselin , Pol, Hilleke E. Hulshoff , Hultman, Christina M., Johansson, Viktoria , Jönsson, Erik G. , Kane, Fergus , Kempton, Matthew J. , Kopeček, Miloslav , Krämer, Bernd , Lenroot, Rhoshel , Marcelis, Machteld , Mattay, Venkata S. , Meyer‐Lindenberg, Andreas , Mwangi, Benson , Nabulsi, Leila , Newport, Jason, Olman, Cheryl A. , Overs, Bronwyn J. , Özerdem, Ayşegül , Pergola, Giulio , Pomarol‐Clotet, Edith , Raduà, Joaquim , Ramsay, Ian S. , Roberts, Gloria , Salvador, Raymond , Sarıçiçek, Aybala , Sarró, Salvador , Simsek, Esma M., Şimşek, Fatma , Toulopoulou, Timothea , Vieta, Eduard , Walter, Henrik , Weinberger, Daniel R. , Whalley, Heather C. , Yalın, Nefize , Ching, Christopher R. K. , Thomopoulos, Sophia I. , Jahanshad, Neda , Thompson, Paul M. , Kahn, René S. , Haren, Neeltje E.M. van , de Zwarte, Sonja M C , Bramon, Elvira , Canales-Rodríguez, Erick J , Cannon, Tyrone D , Chung, Yoonho , Di Giorgio, Annabella , Doucet, Gaelle E , Eker, Mehmet Cagdas , Frangou, Sophia , Glahn, David C , Hajek, Tomas , Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E , Johansson, Viktoria , Jönsson, Erik G , Koenis, Marinka M G , Kopecek, Miloslav , Krämer, Bernd , Michielse, Stijn , Pergola, Giulio , Pomarol-Clotet, Edith , Radua, Joaquim , Salvador, Raymond , Saricicek Aydogan, Aybala , Sarró, Salvador , Schofield, Peter R , Simsek, Fatma , Sponheim, Scott R , Sugranyes, Gisela , Vieta, E , Ching, Christopher R K , Thomopoulos, Sophia I , van Erp, Theo G M , Agartz, Ingrid , Buimer, Elizabeth E L , van Haren, Neeltje E M , Hillegers, Manon H J , Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas , Walter, Henrik , Thompson, Paul M , Alda, Martin , Fullerton, Janice M , Ozerdem, Aysegul , Yalin, Nefize , Bertolino, Alessandro , Cahn, Wiepke , Castro‐Fornieles, Josefina , Bonnín, Caterina del Mar , Demro, Caroline , Frangou, Sophia , Gönül, Ali Saffet , Ingvar, Martin , Lawrie, Stephen M. , McDonald, Colm , Mitchell, Philip B , Moreno, Dolores Maria , Murray, Robin , Os, Jim van , Picchioni, Marco , Piguet, Camille , Richter, Anja , Schofield, Peter R. , Soares, Jair C. , Tronchin, Giulia , Wu, Mon‐Ju , Andreassen, Ole A.
Human Brain Mapping | October 7, 2020 | Volume: 43 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 414-430
AbstractFirst‐degree relatives of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ‐FDRs) show similar patterns of brain abnormalities and cognitive alterations to patients, albeit with smaller effect sizes. First‐degree relatives of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD‐FDRs) show divergent patterns; on average, intracranial volume is larger compared to controls, and findings on cognitive alterations in BD‐FDRs are inconsistent. Here, we performed a meta‐analysis of global and regional brain measures (cortical and subcortical), current IQ, and educational attainment in 5,795 individuals (1,103 SZ‐FDRs, 867 BD‐FDRs, 2,190 controls, 942 schizophrenia patients, 693 bipolar patients) from 36 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts, with standardized methods. Compared to controls, SZ‐FDRs showed a pattern of widespread thinner cortex, while BD‐FDRs had widespread larger cortical surface area. IQ was lower in SZ‐FDRs (d = −0.42,p = 3 × 10−5), with weak evidence of IQ reductions among BD‐FDRs (d = −0.23,p = .045). Both relative groups had similar educational attainment compared to controls. When adjusting for IQ or educational attainment, the group‐effects on brain measures changed, albeit modestly. Changes were in the expected direction, with less pronounced brain abnormalities in SZ‐FDRs and more pronounced effects in BD‐FDRs. To conclude, SZ‐FDRs and BD‐FDRs show a differential pattern of structural brain abnormalities. In contrast, both had lower IQ scores and similar school achievements compared to controls. Given that brain differences between SZ‐FDRs and BD‐FDRs remain after adjusting for IQ or educational attainment, we suggest that differential brain developmental processes underlying predisposition for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are likely independent of general cognitive impairment.