SynthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023
Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men.
Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph
Synthesis in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
16.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
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- A research agenda for understanding how social inequality is linked to brain structure and function.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Regional sex differences in human cortical anatomy vary in their morphometric bases and overlap with sex chromosomal and gonadal influences.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Social network structure and depression by gender in rural Honduras: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2026Observational
- Empirical validation of race-neutral normative brain morphometry models across ethnoracially diverse populations.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Brain charts for neuroanatomical sex differences across the human lifespan.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The exposome of brain aging across 34 countries.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of entanglement: how a gendered world makes a gendered brain.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- The Population Neuroscience-Dementia Syndemics Framework to better understand global sex and gender-based risk in low- and middle-income countries.Nature aging · 2026Review
- Who Participates in Research and Why: Reducing Barriers to Diversifying Samples in Developmental Psychobiology.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Parental gender inequality and their children's educational attainment, quality of life and mental health: An analysis from the Pelotas 1993 birth cohort in Brazil.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries.Nature aging · 2025Article
- Broadening dementia risk models: building on the 2024 Lancet Commission report for a more inclusive global framework.EBioMedicine · 2025Review
- The exposome of healthy and accelerated aging across 40 countries.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Human development, inequality, and their associations with brain structure across 29 countries.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Article
- Qualitative and quantitative educational disparities and brain signatures in healthy aging and dementia across global settings.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Leveraging research into sex differences and steroid hormones to improve brain health.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Longitudinal Sex-at-Birth and Age Analyses of Cortical Structure in the ABCD Study.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Structural inequality linked to brain volume and network dynamics in aging and dementia across the Americas.Nature aging · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
83 authors at 20 institutions in 18 countries.
André ZugmanSection on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN), Emotion and Development Branch (E & D), National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD 20894.
Luz María AlliendeDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8330077, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-7648-9215
Vicente MedelLatin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169, Chile.ORCID 0000-0003-2443-8683
Richard A I BethlehemAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 8AH, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-0714-0685
Jakob SeidlitzDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Grace RingleinSection on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN), Emotion and Development Branch (E & D), National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD 20894.
Celso ArangoDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IISGM), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28009, Spain.
Aurina ArnatkevičiūtėThe Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia.
Laila AsmalDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7602, South Africa.
Mark BellgroveThe Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia.
Vivek BenegalCentre for Addiction Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India.ORCID 0000-0002-8896-9689
Miquel BernardoBarcelona Clinic Schizophrenia Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Departament de Medicina, Institut de Neurociències (UBNeuro), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques, August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Barcelona 08036, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-8748-6717
Pablo BillekeLaboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7610658, Chile.ORCID 0000-0003-4261-0678
Jorge Bosch-BayardMcGill Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, QC H3A 2B4, Canada.
Rodrigo BressanInterdisciplinary Laboratory in Clinical Neuroscience (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil.
Geraldo F BusattoDepartamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0003-4749-4602
Mariana N CastroGrupo de Investigación en Neurociencias Aplicadas a las Alteraciones de la Conducta (INAAC), Fleni-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Neurosciences Institute (INEU), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina.ORCID 0000-0001-6717-2817
Tiffany Chaim-AvanciniLaboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 05403-903, Brazil.
Albert CompteInstitut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona 08036, Spain.
Monise CostanziLaboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Centro de Pesquisa Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre RS 90035-007, Brazil.
Leticia CzepielewskiLaboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Centro de Pesquisa Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre RS 90035-007, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-3898-0273
Paola DazzanDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Camilo de la Fuente-SandovalLaboratory of Experimental Psychiatry, Direction of Research, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City 14269, Mexico.ORCID 0000-0003-0773-1642
Marta Di FortiSocial, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Covadonga M Díaz-CanejaDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IISGM), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28009, Spain.
Ana María Díaz-ZuluagaDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellín 050011, Colombia.
Stefan Du PlessisDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7602, South Africa.
Fabio L S DuranLaboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 05403-903, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-7603-6152
Sol FittipaldiLatin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169, Chile.ORCID 0000-0001-7704-3349
Alex FornitoThe Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9134-480X
Nelson B FreimerCenter for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Ary GadelhaInterdisciplinary Laboratory in Clinical Neuroscience (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil.
Clarissa S GamaLaboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Centro de Pesquisa Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre RS 90035-007, Brazil.
Ranjini GaraniIntegrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A12B4 Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-7090-672X
Clemente Garcia-RizoBarcelona Clinic Schizophrenia Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Departament de Medicina, Institut de Neurociències (UBNeuro), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques, August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Barcelona 08036, Spain.
Cecilia Gonzalez CampoConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina.
Alfonso Gonzalez-ValderramaEarly Intervention Program, Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. J. Horwitz Barak, Santiago 8431621, Chile.
Salvador GuinjoanConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1033AAJ, Argentina.ORCID 0000-0002-1958-4259
Bharath HollaDepartment of Integrative Medicine, NIMHANS, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India.
Agustín IbañezLatin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7941169, Chile.ORCID 0000-0001-6758-5101
Daniza IvanovicLaboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7610658, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-1054-3231
Andrea JackowskiDepartment of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04038-000, Brazil.
Pablo Leon-OrtizLaboratory of Experimental Psychiatry, Direction of Research, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City 14269, Mexico.
Christine LochnerSouth African Medical Research Council (SA MRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7505, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-4766-3704
Carlos López-JaramilloDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Antioquia, Medellín 050011, Colombia.
Hilmar LuckhoffDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7602, South Africa.
Raffael MassudaDepartment of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba PR 80060-000, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-2627-8022
Philip McGuireDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom.
Jun MiyataDepartment of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-1803-1975
Romina MizrahiIntegrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A12B4 Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-6667-7928
Robin MurrayDepartment of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-0829-0519
Aysegul OzerdemDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota MN 55905.
Pedro M PanInterdisciplinary Laboratory in Clinical Neuroscience (LiNC), Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo 04039-032, Brazil.
Mara ParelladaDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IISGM), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid 28009, Spain.
Lebogan PhahladiraDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7602, South Africa.
Juan P Ramirez-MahalufDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8330077, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-0821-1174
Ramiro ReckziegelLaboratory of Molecular Psychiatry, Centro de Pesquisa Clínica, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre RS 90035-007, Brazil.
Tiago Reis MarquesDepartment of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-0602-7661
Francisco Reyes-MadrigalLaboratory of Experimental Psychiatry, Direction of Research, Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía, Mexico City 14269, Mexico.ORCID 0000-0003-0772-4119
Annerine RoosSouth African Medical Research Council (SA MRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-6487-3159
Pedro RosaLaboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 05403-903, Brazil.
Giovanni SalumDepartment of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS 90035903, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-7537-7289
Freda SchefflerSouth African Medical Research Council (SA MRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.
Gunter SchumannCentre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS), Institute for Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Mauricio SerpaDepartamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-903, Brazil.
Dan J SteinSouth African Medical Research Council (SA MRC) Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-7218-7810
Angeles TepperDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8330077, Chile.ORCID 0000-0001-9506-1305
Jeggan TiegoThe Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia.
Tsukasa UenoDepartment of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
Juan UndurragaEarly Intervention Program, Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. J. Horwitz Barak, Santiago 8431621, Chile.ORCID 0000-0001-6958-2369
Eduardo A UndurragaEscuela de Gobierno, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-4425-1253
Pedro Valdes-SosaThe Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China.ORCID 0000-0001-5485-2661
Isabel ValliInstitut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona 08036, Spain.ORCID 0000-0003-3052-7383
Mirta VillarrealGrupo de Investigación en Neurociencias Aplicadas a las Alteraciones de la Conducta (INAAC), Fleni-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Neurosciences Institute (INEU), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina.
Toby T Winton-BrownDepartment of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
Nefize YalinCentre for Affective Disorders, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
Francisco ZamoranoUnidad de Imágenes Cuantitativas Avanzadas, Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago 7650568, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-3516-3630
Marcus V ZanettiLaboratory of Psychiatric Neuroimaging (LIM-21), Departamento e Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clinicas, Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP), Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo SP 05403-903, Brazil.
cVEDA
Anderson M WinklerDepartment of Human Genetics, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas TX 78520.
Daniel S PineSection on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN), Emotion and Development Branch (E & D), National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD 20894.
Sara Evans-LackoCare Policy and Evaluation Centre, School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom.
Nicolas A CrossleyDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8330077, Chile.ORCID 0000-0002-3060-656X
Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo · BRConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas · ARKing's College London · GBSouth African Medical Research Council · ZAMonash University · AUNational Institutes of Health · USPontificia Universidad Católica de Chile · CLUniversidad del Desarrollo · CLHospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón · ESInstituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía · MXStellenbosch University · ZAUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul · BRHospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre · BRInstituto de Salud Carlos III · ESKyoto University · JPNational Health Service · GBNational Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences · INUniversidade Federal de São Paulo · BRUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USAdolfo Ibáñez University · CL
Funding
Medical Research Council MR/S003444/1Medical Research Council MR/X003078/1
Abstract
Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women's worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7,876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women's brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality.
Indexed as
BrainGender EquityAdultFemaleHumansMaleSex Factorsgender inequalitysex differencesstructural brain MRI
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