Sex differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants

Stuart J Ritchie; Simon R Cox; Xueyi Shen; Michael V Lombardo; Lianne M Reus; Clara Alloza; Mathew A Harris; Helen L Alderson; Stuart Hunter; Emma Neilson; David C M Liewald; Bonnie Auyeung; Heather C Whalley; Stephen M Lawrie; Catharine R Gale; Mark E Bastin; Andrew M McIntosh; Ian J Deary

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhy109

Sex differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants

Stuart J Ritchie, Simon R Cox, Xueyi Shen, Michael V Lombardo, Lianne M Reus, Clara Alloza, Mathew A Harris, Helen L Alderson, Stuart Hunter, Emma Neilson, David C M Liewald, Bonnie Auyeung, Heather C Whalley, Stephen M Lawrie, Catharine R Gale, Mark E Bastin, Andrew M McIntosh, Ian J Deary

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2959-2975
Number of pages	17
Journal	Cerebral Cortex
Volume	28
Issue number	8
Early online date	16 May 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy109
Publication status	Published - 31 Aug 2018

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

brain volume
cortical thickness
fMRI
sex differences
surface area

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10.1093/cercor/bhy109Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

RitchieEtalCC2018SexDiferencesInTheAdultHumanBrainFinal published version, 1.08 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

How do peripheral and central vascular markers relate to cognitive decline? (Project 8)
Deary, I. (Principal Investigator)
UK-based charities
10/08/15 → 31/08/17
Project: Research
Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally
McIntosh, A. (Principal Investigator), Deary, I. (Co-investigator), Evans, K. (Co-investigator), Haley, C. (Co-investigator) & Porteous, D. (Co-investigator)
UK-based charities
1/01/15 → 30/06/21
Project: Research
RA2661 Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2. Main Budget.
Deary, I. (Principal Investigator), Gale, C. (Co-investigator), Holmes, M. (Co-investigator), Logie, P. (Co-investigator), Maclullich, A. (Co-investigator), Porteous, D. (Co-investigator), Seckl, J. (Co-investigator), Starr, J. (Co-investigator), Wardlaw, J. (Co-investigator) & Okely, J. (Researcher)
1/09/13 → 31/08/19
Project: Research

Simon Cox
- simon.coxed.acuk
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences - Personal Chair of Brain and Cognitive Ageing & Sir Henry Dal
- Edinburgh Neuroscience
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

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. (2018). Sex differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants. Cerebral Cortex, 28(8), 2959-2975. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy109

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title = "Sex differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants",

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.",

keywords = "brain volume, cortical thickness, fMRI, sex differences, surface area",

author = "Ritchie, {Stuart J} and Cox, {Simon R} and Xueyi Shen and Lombardo, {Michael V} and Reus, {Lianne M} and Clara Alloza and Harris, {Mathew A} and Alderson, {Helen L} and Stuart Hunter and Emma Neilson and Liewald, {David C M} and Bonnie Auyeung and Whalley, {Heather C} and Lawrie, {Stephen M} and Gale, {Catharine R} and Bastin, {Mark E} and McIntosh, {Andrew M} and Deary, {Ian J}",

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Ritchie, SJ, Cox, SR , Shen, X, Lombardo, MV, Reus, LM, Alloza, C, Harris, MA, Alderson, HL, Hunter, S, Neilson, E, Liewald, DCM, Auyeung, B , Whalley, HC , Lawrie, SM, Gale, CR, Bastin, ME , McIntosh, AM & Deary, IJ 2018, 'Sex differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants', Cerebral Cortex, vol. 28, no. 8, pp. 2959-2975. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy109

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AU - Ritchie, Stuart J

AU - Cox, Simon R

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AU - Reus, Lianne M

AU - Alloza, Clara

AU - Harris, Mathew A

AU - Alderson, Helen L

AU - Hunter, Stuart

AU - Neilson, Emma

AU - Liewald, David C M

AU - Auyeung, Bonnie

AU - Whalley, Heather C

AU - Lawrie, Stephen M

AU - Gale, Catharine R

AU - Bastin, Mark E

AU - McIntosh, Andrew M

AU - Deary, Ian J

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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 differences in the adult human brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Projects

How do peripheral and central vascular markers relate to cognitive decline? (Project 8)

Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally

RA2661 Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Phase 2. Main Budget.

Profiles

Simon Cox

Cite this