Women's and Men's Immune Systems Have Different Response to PTSD

RoseTracker| The immune systems of women and men have vastly different responses to chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, with men showing no response and women a strong one. An over-activated response causes inflammation, which often leads to cardiovascular disease and arthritis.

In a commentary that underscores how researchers can misunderstand research results by lumping men and women together on a false assumption that gender response is the same, one wonders how many other research studies have drawn false conclusions.

“Previous gene microarray studies on PTSD grouped men and women together, which gave inconclusive results,” said senior investigator Lynn Pulliam, MS, PhD, chief of microbiology at SFVAMC and professor of laboratory medicine and medicine at UCSF. “This is the first time that it’s been shown that men and women respond differently to PTSD on a very basic biological level.” via Science Daily