Gender-Based Cerebral Perfusion Differences in 46,034 Functional Neuroimaging Scans

Studies have reported that females have widespread increases in regional cerebral blood flow, but the studies were relatively small and inconsistent.

Here we analyzed a healthy and a very large clinical psychiatric population to determine the effect of gender, using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Whole brain and region of interest (ROI) gender differences were analyzed in a total of 46,034 SPECT scans at baseline and concentration. The sample included 119 healthy subjects and 26,683 patients (60.4% male, 39.6% female); a subset of 11,587 patients had complete diagnostic information. A total of 128 regions were analyzed according to the AAL Atlas, using ROI Extract and SPSS statistical software programs, controlling for age, diagnoses, and correcting for multiple comparisons.

Compared to males, healthy females showed significant whole brain (p < 0.01) and ROI increases in 65 baseline and 48 concentration regions (p < 0.01 corrected). Healthy males showed non-significant increases in 9 and 22 regions, respectively. In the clinical group, there were widespread significant increases in females, especially in the prefrontal and limbic regions, and specific increases in males in the inferior occipital lobes, inferior temporal lobes, and lobule 7 and Crus 2 of the cerebellum. These findings were replicated in the subset of 11,587 patients with the effect of diagnoses removed.

Our results demonstrated significant gender differences in a healthy and clinical population. Understanding these differences is crucial in evaluating functional neuroimaging and may be useful in understanding the epidemiological gender differences among psychiatric disorders.