Future experiments should strive to power studies adequately for the analysis of SG in neuroimaging data, including over-recruiting women for adequate female enrollment. Highlighting this point, we found that while 59%, 81%, and 80% of PET, MRI, and fMRI studies of AUD over the past 10 years included women, respectively, only 13%, 18%, and 11% analyzed neuroimaging data by sex. Future consideration should also be made regarding the role of stress pathophysiology when examining SG differences in AUD as AUD and stress-related neurocircuitry overlap. Sex hormones, psychiatric comorbidities, and psychosocial factors may also be associated with perturbations in neural networks underlying AUD in women compared to men; thus, should be considered in future imaging investigations. With the recent mandate on inclusion of sex as a biological variable in all clinical research, SG differences in the neural substrates underlying alcohol use disorder will greatly advance our understanding of SG-dependent alterations in brain function and structure in alcohol use disorder with the goal of tailoring pharmacotherapeutic treatment strategies for alcohol use disorder, particularly in women.
