Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
Influence of sex and systemic lupus erythematosus disease status on cerebral cortex structure
Authors' conclusion
Sex and SLE disease status have both independent and interacting impacts on cerebral cortical structure.
Study context
- Population
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and healthy controls undergoing structural MRI
- Participants
- 196 patients
- Exposure
- SLE vs healthy controls (HC), by sex
- Male SLEn = 30
- Female SLEn = 66
- Male HCn = 33reference
- Female HCn = 67reference
- Outcome
- Main and interactive effects of sex and diagnosis on cortical morphology (cortical thickness, gyrification index, fractal dimension, sulcal depth) in predefined regions of interest
Methodological detailssurface-based morphometry, two-way ANOVA (Holm-Bonferroni corrected)
- Surface-based morphometry
- Two-way ANOVA (Holm-Bonferroni corrected)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Sex-by-disease interactions in cortical morphology
- Sex × diagnosis interaction, sulcal depth in left orbital (H-shaped) sulci: F=14.8458
- p=0.0150
- Sex × diagnosis interaction, gyrification index in left middle frontal sulcus: F=14.1650
- p=0.0313
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Diagnostic main effect on cortical thickness
- HC > SLE for cortical thickness, observed extensively across both hemispheres
Correlation of structural metrics with disease activity/psychological scores in interaction-significant regions
- No significant correlations
Original publication
Influence of sex and systemic lupus erythematosus disease status on cerebral cortex structure. Lupus Sci Med. Published 25 June 2026. doi:10.
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