Sex and gender in neurodevelopmental conditions

Bölte, Sven; Neufeld, Janina; Marschik, Peter B.; Williams, Zachary J.; Gallagher, Louise; Lai, Meng‐Chuan

doi:10.1038/s41582-023-00774-6

Cited by 86 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 368 publications

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“…This result may be caused by genetic polymorphisms in different genders. Previous studies have shown that sex differences are more obvious in individuals with mental development disorders [ 35 ]. Some studies have shown that males diagnosed with ADHD are more likely to accept the diagnosis of oppositional defiance disorder or behavioral disorder, while females are more likely to experience emotional regulation problems [ 36 , 37 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Hyperactivity and SSB Consumption in Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

et al. 2023

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Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption has risen significantly, which may lead to various health problems. Studies about the association between SSBs and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are rare and inconsistent. We have used the two-stage cluster sampling method to select 6541 students aged 6–12. We further investigated their basic information and SSB intake. Teachers’ questionnaires and parents’ questionnaires were used to evaluating the hyperactive behaviors in children. We examined the associations between SSB consumption and hyperactivity index (HI) by adopting the censored least absolute deviation (CLAD) estimator. Then, we further evaluated the impacts of sex and age on the association between SSB intake and hyperactivity. Children who weekly drank SSB two or more times were associated with 0.05 (0.04, 0.07) and 0.04 (0.02, 0.06) higher scores of ln (HI+1) reported by teachers and parents, respectively, compared to non-consumers children (p for trend < 0.05). A stronger association between SSB intake and hyperactivity occurred in girls and old children. (p for interaction < 0.05). SSB intake has a positive correlation with the risk of hyperactivity in children, and the frequency of SSB consumption and hyperactivity have a dose–response relationship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Hyperactivity and SSB Consumption in Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

et al. 2023

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“…First, we did not include a neurotypical comparison group, so it is unclear whether these findings are specific to autism or reflect the overall relationship between social attention and social engagement. Second, we only measured biological sex and did not consider the spectrum of gender diversity in this population, which is a topic of growing importance to the autistic community (Bölte et al, 2023; van Schalkwyk et al, 2015). Similarly, our study sample consisted primarily of White, well‐educated, high‐SES families who do not represent the broad range of identities of autistic individuals and their caregivers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eye‐tracking measures of social versus nonsocial attention are related to level of social engagement during naturalistic caregiver‐child interactions in autistic children

et al. 2023

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Eye‐tracking (ET) measures indexing social attention have been proposed as sensitive measures related to autism, but less is known about the relationship between social and nonsocial attention and naturalistic measures of social engagement and whether sex moderates this relationship. This study investigated ET measures of social attention as predictors of social engagement during a naturalistic caregiver‐child interaction (CCI). Participants included 132, 2‐7‐year‐old autistic children (77% male) and their caregivers. Participants engaged in a CCI and an ET task in which they viewed a video of an actor making dyadic bids toward the child with toys in the background. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyzes revealed that ET measures correlated with social engagement behaviors, including degree of attention to the caregiver and objects, joint engagement with the caregiver, and language‐based joint engagement. Children who spent more time looking at toys were more likely to be unengaged during social interaction. Those who spent more time looking at the actor's mouth were more likely to engage in coordinated play with and without language. Sex moderated the relationship between time looking at toys and unengagement during play; males who spent more time looking at toys spent more time unengaged during play, whereas females who spent more time looking at toys spent less time unengaged during play. Overall, ET measures of social and nonsocial attention correlated with the level of social engagement during naturalistic play, with some sex differences. Eye‐tracking measures that predict interaction patterns may provide insight into promoting social engagement between caregivers and their autistic children and can inform outcome monitoring and intervention development.

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“…However, sex differences in mental health and neurodiverse conditions may also be a by-product of sociocultural factors and expectations that interact with biological factors and behavioral adaptations (e.g., camouflaging of autism in women ). Thus, both sex-and gender-related factors differentially affect expression and diagnosis of mental health conditions (Bölte et al, 2023), see Box 1 and Figure 1. Yet, even though sex and gender have been addressed more frequently in neuroscientific research on mental health over the past years, many studies still do not examine its potential effects (see e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recommendations for a better understanding of sex and gender in neuroscience of mental health

Wierenga¹,

Ruigrok²,

Aksnes³

et al. 2023

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There are prominent sex differences in the prevalence of numerous mental health and neurodiverse conditions. Both sex and gender related factors affect the expression and diagnosis of mental health conditions. Even though, sex and gender research has been integrated in research policies, the underlying mechanisms and interactions between them are still not fully understood. This lack of knowledge has harmful consequences for diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions. Hence, we have set up a co-creation session in a one week workshop, including a multidisciplinary team of 25 scientists, clinicians and policy makers, to identify the main barriers in sex and gender research in neuroscience of mental health. We provide recommendations and solutions for three focus areas including neuroscientific methods, bridging the gap between research and the clinic, and stakeholder collaborations. These recommendations include guidelines for documenting sex and gender methods and results, analysis beyond the binary and open science, which will drive our understanding of sex and gender related mechanisms in neuroscience. This will ultimately benefit public health as this is an important step towards precision medicine and may function as an archetype for studying diversity.

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Sex and gender in neurodevelopmental conditions

Cited by 86 publications

References 368 publications

Association between Hyperactivity and SSB Consumption in Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

Association between Hyperactivity and SSB Consumption in Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

Eye‐tracking measures of social versus nonsocial attention are related to level of social engagement during naturalistic caregiver‐child interactions in autistic children

Recommendations for a better understanding of sex and gender in neuroscience of mental health

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