Sex differences in neurological and psychiatric diseases

Major neurological and psychiatric diseases affect females and males differently, suggesting that inherent sex-biased biological factors affect disease incidence and progression. These factors are grouped into two major groups, hormones secreted by the gonads, and genes unequally encoded on X and Y sex chromosomes in the two sexes. Numerous rodent models of these diseases have been used to dissect the relative contributions of sex hormones and sex chromosomes, and studies of humans bear strongly on the factors that might account for the sex differences. Examples of research progress in this area are reviewed for multiple sclerosis and autoimmune diseases, stroke, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and autism spectrum disorder. The study of sex differences offers novel perspectives in the discovery of factors that may be targeted in the clinic to alleviate the burden of these diseases.