Addiction biology
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Structural neuroimaging studies have provided evidence of differences in local brain volume between cocaine-dependent and healthy control individuals. While sex differences in aetiology, course and brain dysfunction associated with chronic cocaine abuse have been previously documented, evidence of sex-specific differences in brain volume has not been examined thus far. This study examined sex-related differences in grey matter volume between cocaine-dependent and healthy control subjects using voxel-based morphometry. ⋯ Female CD patients had less grey matter volume than female controls in left inferior frontal gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus and hippocampus. Male CD patients had less grey matter in a superior cortical region that included the precentral gyrus and the mid-cingulate. These sex differences in lower grey matter volume add to the evidence from functional neuroimaging for sex-specific differences in the neurophysiological changes associated with chronic cocaine use.