title: Lack of gender effects on gray matter volumes in adolescent generalized anxiety disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous epidemiological and clinical studies have reported gender differences in prevalence and clinical features of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Such gender differences in clinical phenomenology suggest that the underlying neural circuitry of GAD could also be different in males and females. This study aimed to explore the possible gender effect on gray matter volumes in adolescents with GAD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six adolescent GAD patients and 25 healthy controls participated and underwent high-resolution structural magnetic resonance scans. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate gray matter alterations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study revealed a significant diagnosis main effect in the right putamen, with larger gray matter volumes in GAD patients compared to healthy controls, and a significant gender main effect in the left precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, with larger gray matter volumes in males compared to females. No gender-by-diagnosis interaction effect was found in this study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relatively small sample size in this study might result in a lack of power to demonstrate gender effects on brain structure in GAD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested that there are differences in gray matter volumes between males and females, but gray matter volumes in GAD are not influenced by gender.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. Electronic address: childpsy8@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Linyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. Electronic address: lilj2920@163.com.
authors.forename: Lingjiang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Gender; Generalized anxiety disorder; Voxel-based morphometry