The American Journal of Surgery
Volume 197, Issue 2 , Pages 155-158 , February 2009

Severe traumatic brain injury: is there a gender difference in mortality?

Presented at the 17th annual meeting of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, April 17–20, 2008, Cleveland, OH.

  • Marcus Ottochian, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Division of Trauma, Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    • ,
  • Ali Salim, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 8215N, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author: Tel.: +1-310-423-5874; fax: +1-310-423-0139
    • ,
  • Cherisse Berry, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 8215N, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
    • ,
  • Linda S. Chan, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Division of Trauma, Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    • ,
  • Matthew T. Wilson, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 8215N, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
    • ,
  • Daniel R. Margulies, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd., Suite 8215N, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA

Received 11 May 2008 ,Revised 18 September 2008

References 

  1. Wang KW, Larner SF, Robinson G, et al. Neuroprotection targets after traumatic brain injury. Curr Opin Neurol. 2006;19:514–519
  2. Stein DG, Hoffman SW. Estrogen and progesterone as neuroprotective agents in the treatment of acute brain injuries. Pediatr Rehabil. 2003;6:13–22
  3. Bramlett HM, Dietrich WD. Neuropathological protection after traumatic brain injury in intact female rats versus males or ovariectomized females. J Neurotrauma. 2001;18:891–900
  4. Davis DP, Douglas DJ, Smith W, et al. Traumatic brain injury outcomes in pre- and post-menopausal females versus age-matched males. J Neurotrauma. 2006;23:140–148
  5. Bruce-Keller AJ, Dimayuga FO, Reed JL, et al. Gender and estrogen manipulation do not affect traumatic brain injury in mice. J Neurotrauma. 2007;24:203–215
  6. Groswasser Z, Cohen M, Keren O, et al. Female TBI patients recover better than males. Brain Inj. 1998;12:805–808
  7. Phelan H. Use of a pediatric cohort to examine gender and sex hormone influences on outcome after trauma. J Trauma. 2007;63:1127–1131
  8. Coimbra R, Hoyt DB, Potenza BM, et al. Does sexual dimorphism influence outcome of traumatic brain injury patients?. The answer is no! J Trauma. 2003;54:689–700
  9. Farace E, Alves W. Do women fare worse: a meta-analysis of gender differences in traumatic brain injury outcome. J Neurosurg. 2000;93:539–545
  10. Kovacs EJ. Aging, traumatic injury, and estrogen treatment. Exp Gerontol. 2005;40:549–555
  11. Stein DG. Brain damage, sex hormones and recovery: a new role for progesterone and estrogen?. Trends Neurosci. 2001;24:386–391
  12. Roof RL, Hall ED. Estrogen-related gender difference in survival rate and cortical blood flow after impact-acceleration head injury in rats. J Neurotrauma. 2000;17:1155–1169
  13. Dubal DB, Zhu H, Yu J, et al. Estrogen receptor α, not β, is a critical link in estradiol-mediated protection against brain injury. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98:1952–1957
  14. Kondo Y, Suzuki K, Sakuma Y. Estrogen alleviates cognitive dysfunction following transient brain ischemia in ovariectomized gerbils. Neurosci Lett. 1997;238:45–48
  15. Chen X, Li Y, Kline AE, et al. Gender and environmental effects on regional brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression after experimental traumatic brain injury. Neuroscience. 2005;135:11–17
  16. Rogers E, Wagner AK. Gender, sex steroids, and neuroprotection following traumatic brain injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2006;21:279–281
  17. Mendelowitsch A, Ritz MF, Ros J, et al. 17 Beta-estradiol reduces cortical lesion size in the glutamate excitotoxicity model by enhancing extracellular lactate: a new neuroprotective pathway. Brain Res. 2001;901:230–236
  18. Amantea D, Russo R, Bagetta G, et al. From clinical evidence to molecular mechanisms underlying neuroprotection afforded by estrogens. Pharmacol Res. 2005;52:119–132
  19. Morrison WE, Arbelaez JJ, Fackler JC, et al. Gender and age effects on outcome after pediatric traumatic brain injury. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2004;5:145–151

 The authors have no conflict of interest to report and have received no financial or material support related to this manuscript.

PII: S0002-9610(08)00747-2

doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2008.09.008

The American Journal of Surgery
Volume 197, Issue 2 , Pages 155-158 , February 2009

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