Gender Differences Seen in Toxoplasmosis Eye Disease Symptoms

THURSDAY, June 22, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- While medical outcomes of toxoplasmosis are similar for both men and women, there are gender differences in symptoms at presentation, according to a study published online May 24 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Matilda R. Lyons, M.D., from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues studied the effect of gender on the clinical features and outcomes of ocular toxoplasmosis. The analysis included 262 patients (139 women) presenting to a tertiary referral uveitis service with serological and clinical evidence of ocular toxoplasmosis.

The researchers found that men were significantly more likely to present with primary active disease than women (24.4 versus 12.9 percent), while conversely, women were significantly more likely to present with recurrent active disease than men (36.0 versus 28.5 percent). Women's eyes were more likely to have multiple lesions than men's eyes (54.7 versus 39.8 percent), and lesions in women's eyes were significantly more likely to occur at the posterior pole versus men's eyes (56.1 versus 39.8 percent). Men and women were similar with respect to measures of visual acuity, ocular complications, and occurrence and timing of reactivations.

"For the first time, we are showing that the symptoms of toxoplasmosis vary not just depending on the age and health of the infected individual but also on their gender," senior author Justine Smith, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., also from Flinders University, said in a statement.

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