Women lose more grey matter to drug abuse than men do, says study

A new study finds that drug abuse has more long term effects on women than on men as women tend to lose more grey matter than men.

Women face more long-term effects of drug abuse than men do, says a new University of Colorado study.

The study says that women lose more brain volume to drug abuse compared to men.

Researchers find that brain structures involved in reward, learning and executive control show vast changes in women even after a prolonged period of abstinence from drug use.

"We found that after an average of 13.5 months of abstinence, women who were previously dependent on drugs had significantly less grey matter volume in several brain areas compared to healthy women," says senior study author Jody Tanabe, neuroradiology section chief at University of Colorado.

These brain areas are important for decision making, emotion, reward-processing and habit formation.

The team analyses structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams in 127 men and women, including 59 people (28 women and 31 men) who were previously dependent on cocaine, amphetamines and/or methamphetamine.

"While the women previously dependent on stimulants demonstrated widespread brain differences when compared to their healthy control counterparts, the men demonstrated no significant brain differences," Dr Tanabe says in a paper published in the journal Radiology.

They also report more difficulty quitting, and upon seeking treatment, report using larger quantities of these drugs.

"We hope that our results will lead to further investigation into gender differences in substance dependence and thus, more effective treatments," the authors say.