Illness affected by brain sex
October 24th 2005, 10:43 Jeff Sela
Research has shown that differences in male and female brains can affect their susceptibility to certain disorders. This makes women more likely to suffer from depression and eating disorders, while men are more likely to get Parkinson's disease. These illnesses may be affected by sex hormones, like oestrogen and testosterone, and by the way the brain is formed in the womb. Hormones may also affect multiple sclerosis in women.
Scientists found that transgender people who have a ‘brain sex’ that doesn't match their apparent physical sex follow this pattern, and their likelyhood of developing these problems is determined by their brain sex.
It's only fairly recently that serious research has been done on the differences between male and female in terms of brain structure. The BBC documentary Secrets of the Sexes (Programme 1, Brainsex) used a large survey to look into gender differences, and found that there was a much more continuous variation between masculine and feminine than might have been expected.
