ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Impact of Sex Differences on Clinical Characteristics of anti‑N‑methyl‑D‑aspartate Receptor Encephalitis During the Acute Phase: A Single-Center Retrospective Study
Provisionally accepted
- Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To elucidate the influence of sex differences on the clinical characteristics of anti-NMDAR encephalitis during the acute phase. Methods: Patients diagnosed with anti-NMDAR encephalitis who were hospitalized at Huanhu Hospital, affiliated with Tianjin University, from January 2020 to January 2025 were collected. They were divided into two groups: male and female. Clinical data for both groups were gathered, including age, history of prodromal infection, clinical manifestations, complications, presence of tumor, laboratory indices, MRI findings, GCS scores, length of hospital stay, treatment regimens, and acute phase outcomes. Statistical methods were employed to compare the differences between the two groups. Results: A total of 43 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis were included in this study, comprising 20 male patients (46.51%) and 23 female patients (53.49%). Female patients were more likely to exhibit decreased levels of consciousness compared to male patients (χ2=4.113, P=0.043). Additionally, the antibody titers in CSF of female patients were significantly higher than those in male patients too (Z=- 2.870, P=0.004). Interestingly, CSF protein levels were higher in male patients than in female patients (Z=-2.591, P=0.019), and male patients were more prone to test positive for anti-MOG antibodies (χ2=5.715, P=0.017). The treatment improvement rate for female patients was lower than that for male patients (Z=4.768, P=0.029), and family members of female patients were more likely to automatic discharge (χ2=4.075, P=0.044). Conclusion: Female patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis experience greater challenges and difficulties compared to male patients. Therefore, it is necessary to choose more proactive treatment options for female patients to help reduce the risk of adverse outcome in acute phase .
Keywords: acute phase, anti-NMDAR encephalitis, autoimmune encephalitis, Clinical Characteristics, sex differences
Received: 01 Oct 2025; Accepted: 17 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zou and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guanen Zhou
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.