Male and female sensitivity to alcohol-induced brain damage

Abstract

Women are more vulnerable than men to many of the medical consequences of alcohol use. Although research has shown that male alcoholics generally have smaller brain volumes than nonalcoholic males, the few studies that have compared brain structure in alcoholic men and women have had mixed results. To adequately compare brain damage between alcoholic women and men, it is necessary to control for age and to have separate control groups of nonalcoholic men and women. Although the majority of studies suggest that women are more vulnerable to alcohol-induced brain damage than men, the evidence remains inconclusive.

Figure 1

Intracranial volume (a measure of the maximum size to which the brain grows) increases as a function of height among healthy nonalcoholic men and women. Most of the difference in intracranial volume between healthy nonalcoholic women and men is explained by height. SOURCE: Subset of the data (nonalcoholics only) reported in Hommer et al. 2001.

Figure 2

The ratio of brain to intracranial volume (a measure of the maximum size to which the brain grows) decreases as a function of age, among healthy nonalcoholic men and women. The brain shrinks as we age. SOURCE: Subset of the data (nonalcoholics only) reported in Hommer et al. 2001.

Figure 3

The proportion of intracranial volume occupied by gray matter decreases as healthy nonalcoholic men and women age, but, at any age, women have proportionally more gray matter than men. SOURCE: Subset of the data (nonalcoholics only) reported in Hommer et al. 2001.