TY  - JOUR
AU  - Landstra, Elvire-Nadieh
AU  - Lohner, Valerie
AU  - Breteler, Monique M B
TI  - Sex-specific relations of ceramides and white matter hyperintensities in the Rhineland study.
JO  - Scientific reports
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SN  - 2045-2322
CY  - [London]
PB  - Springer Nature
M1  - DZNE-2025-00784
SP  - 23757
PY  - 2025
AB  - Women have a higher white matter hyperintensity (WMH) burden compared to men of a similar age, but the causes of this remain unclear. Ceramide (CER) levels differ between men and women and were previously linked to WMH, suggesting they could underlie these sex differences. Therefore, we associated twelve CERs, CER totals, six CER ratios, and a CER score reflecting the CERs most strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, with WMH load in 3,283 participants (30-95 years) of the community-based Rhineland Study. We assessed sex-specific relations between CERs and WMH by including an interaction term and performing sex-stratified analyses. We further investigated the influence of menopause by comparing relations in pre- and postmenopausal women of the same age. Multiple CERs, CER ratios, and the CER score were associated with increased WMH load, with most associations being significantly stronger in women than in men. We found no influence of menopausal status on the associations between CERs and WMH. Thus, we showed novel and strong associations of CERs, CER ratios and the CER score with WMH burden, especially in women. This study suggests that CERs may play an important role in the observed sex differences in WMH burden.
KW  - Humans
KW  - Ceramides: metabolism
KW  - Female
KW  - Male
KW  - Middle Aged
KW  - Aged
KW  - White Matter: metabolism
KW  - White Matter: diagnostic imaging
KW  - White Matter: pathology
KW  - Adult
KW  - Aged, 80 and over
KW  - Sex Factors
KW  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW  - Sex Characteristics
KW  - Menopause
KW  - Brain lipids (Other)
KW  - Ceramides (Other)
KW  - Epidemiology (Other)
KW  - Menopause (Other)
KW  - Sex differences (Other)
KW  - White matter hyperintensities (Other)
KW  - Ceramides (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:40610590
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-06911-z
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/279457
ER  -