Drug abuse significantly cuts brain volume in women

A recent study has claimed that the long-term stimulant abuse has more significant effects on brain volume in women than in men.

University of Colorado researchers tried to determine how the brains of people previously dependent on stimulants are different from the brains of healthy people.

Researcher Jody Tanabe said that during the research, 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.

The women who were former stimulant abusers showed significant loss of gray matter volume in their brains, while men who were former stimulant abusers demonstrated no significant brain differences compared to their healthy counterparts.

Tanabe further said that she hopes that her findings would lead to further investigation into gender differences in substance dependence and more effective treatments.

The results are published in the journal Radiology.