Women but not men with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have significantly lower levels of protein involved in the brain’s immune response, a group at Yale University in New Haven, CT, has reported.
The finding is from PET scans in 41 individuals (20 women) with mild-to-moderate AUD and was related to poorer cognitive function, noted lead author Yasmin Zakiniaeiz, PhD, of the school’s psychiatry department.
“Women have a greater vulnerability to alcohol-induced neurodegeneration, thus, there is a critical need to examine sex differences in neuroimmune mechanisms underlying AUD to inform novel treatment strategies for women,” Zakiniaeiz and colleagues wrote. The study was published May 22 in Biological Psychiatry.
Rates of alcohol use, high-risk drinking, and AUD in women continue to increase, and, alarmingly,…