AUTHOR=Oltra Javier , Uribe Carme , Campabadal Anna , Inguanzo Anna , Monté-Rubio Gemma C. , Martí Maria J. , Compta Yaroslau , Valldeoriola Francesc , Junque Carme , Segura Barbara 

TITLE=Sex Differences in Brain and Cognition in de novo Parkinson's Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.791532

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2021.791532

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background and Objective:</bold> Brain atrophy and cognitive impairment in neurodegenerative diseases are influenced by sex. We aimed to investigate sex differences in brain atrophy and cognition in <italic>de novo</italic> Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> Clinical, neuropsychological and T1-weighted MRI data from 205 PD patients (127 males: 78 females) and 69 healthy controls (40 males: 29 females) were obtained from the PPMI dataset.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> PD males had a greater motor and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder symptomatology than PD females. They also showed cortical thinning in postcentral and precentral regions, greater global cortical and subcortical atrophy and smaller volumes in thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, hippocampus, and brainstem, compared with PD females. Healthy controls only showed reduced hippocampal volume in males compared to females. PD males performed worse than PD females in global cognition, immediate verbal recall, and mental processing speed. In both groups males performed worse than females in semantic verbal fluency and delayed verbal recall; as well as females performed worse than males in visuospatial function.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Sex effect in brain and cognition is already evident in <italic>de novo</italic> PD not explained by age <italic>per se</italic>, being a relevant factor to consider in clinical and translational research in PD.</p>