Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Feb 19, 2024; 14(2): 194-198
Published online Feb 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i2.194
Keep in mind sex differences when prescribing psychotropic drugs
Giuseppe Marano, Domenico De Berardis, Marianna Mazza
Marianna Mazza, Giuseppe Marano, Department of Neurosciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy
Domenico De Berardis, Mental Health, NHS, ASL 4 Teramo, Teramo 64100, Italy
Author contributions: Mazza M, De Berardis D, and Marano G designed the research study and wrote the manuscript; and all authors have read and have approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marianna Mazza, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A Gemelli 8, Rome 00168, Italy. mariannamazza@hotmail.com
Received: October 8, 2023
Peer-review started: October 8, 2023
First decision: November 30, 2023
Revised: December 2, 2023
Accepted: January 2, 2024
Article in press: January 2, 2024
Published online: February 19, 2024
Processing time: 120 Days and 22.4 Hours
Abstract

Women represent the majority of patients with psychiatric diagnoses and also the largest users of psychotropic drugs. There are inevitable differences in efficacy, side effects and long-term treatment response between men and women. Psychopharmacological research needs to develop adequately powered animal and human trials aimed to consider pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of central nervous system drugs in both male and female subjects. Healthcare professionals have the responsibility to prescribe sex-specific psychopharmacotherapies with a priority to differentiate between men and women in order to minimize adverse drugs reactions, to maximize therapeutic effectiveness and to provide personalized management of care.

Keywords: Women; Psychopharmacology; Psychotropic drugs; Sex differences

Core Tip: It has been largely demonstrated that women are the majority of patients with psychiatric diagnoses and also the largest users of psychotropic drugs. There are differences between men and women receiving psychotropic drugs, in terms of response, efficacy, side effects, long-term treatment outcome. There is still a lack of psychopharmacological research focusing on these differences in male and female patients. This editorial focuses on the important issue of deeply understanding the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of central nervous system drugs with a priority to differentiate between men and women in order to provide personalized management of care.