Human Brain Weight in Relation to Age and Gender among the Autopsies at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The average weight of the human brain typically ranges from 1300 to 1400 grams; however, there is a limited amount of data in Africa on human brain weight. It has been reported that the weight of human organs including the brain, depends on age, sex, and socioeconomic conditions hence this brings about differences in organ weight of humans.

Aim: The aim and objective of this study is to compare weight of human brains of all ages and genders.

Methods: The research was conducted in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ife (OAUTHC). A total 578 (295 male & 283 Female) autopsies specimen from OAUTHC were used for this study. Autopsies with the diseases of central nervous system were excluded. The data from this study was grouped into age groups of ten years interval from 0-10 to 80-90 for both genders. The results were analysed using Graph Pad Prism version 8.4.3.686 using one-way ANOVA. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The mean brain weight was 1367g and 1239g for males and females respectively and the difference was significant. The heaviest brains were found to fall in the age group 31-40 & 41-50 for males and 21-30 for females presents that the maximum brain weight for males was found in the age group 30-40 and that of females in the 31-35 age group and 36-40 age group.

Conclusion: We concluded that African brain weight is almost the same as that of Caucasian brain weight. And there is a significant difference between male and female brain weight.