Effect of gender on processing threat-related stimuli in patients with panic disorder: sex does matter.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that female and male subjects process emotions differently. As women appear to be especially sensitive and responsive to negative and threatening stimuli, gender-specific emotional processing might be an important factor contributing to the increased likelihood of women compared to men to develop anxiety disorders, e.g. panic disorder (PD).

METHODS: In this study, gender-specific neural activation during facial emotion processing was investigated in 20 PD patients (12 women, 8 men) by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

RESULTS: Overall, significantly stronger activation, encompassing the amygdala, prefrontal, temporal, and occipital cortical areas, basal ganglia, and thalamus, was observed in women than in men during the processing of angry, fearful, or neutral but not happy facial expressions. Additionally, functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortical areas and thalamus during the processing of angry facial expressions was significantly stronger in women than in men.

CONCLUSIONS: These results emphasize gender as an important variable in neural activation patterns of emotional processing and may help to further elucidate the biological substrate of gender-specific susceptibility for PD.