Scientists from The George Institute for Global Health found life events that influence levels of the female hormone estrogen may be linked to a woman’s risk of developing dementia in later life.
They found that some reproductive events—like an early or late start to menstruation, early menopause, and hysterectomy—were linked to a higher risk of dementia.
Ever having been pregnant or having had an abortion and later menopause was linked to lower risk.
The research is published in PLoS Med and was conducted by author Jessica Gong et al.
Although it appeared reproductive events related to changes in hormone levels in women may be involved in dementia risk, the exact relationship was still unknown.
Dementia is fast becoming a global epidemic, currently affecting an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
This is projected to triple by 2050—mainly driven by aging populations. Rates of dementia and associated deaths are both known to be higher in women than men.
Estradiol is the most predominant form of estrogen during reproductive life (from the start of menstruation to menopause) and estriol is the primary estrogen during pregnancy.
Use of hormones that originate from outside the body, such as oral contraceptives during reproductive years, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in later life can also influence estrogen levels.
In the study, the team analyzed data on a total of 273,240 women without dementia who were registered with the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database.
They found the following were associated with an increased risk of dementia:
Early and late first occurrence of menstruation, younger age at first birth, and hysterectomy—specifically hysterectomy without surgical removal of one or both ovaries, or if the hysterectomy took place after ovary removal.
Conversely, the factors associated with a decreased risk were ever having been pregnant, ever having had an abortion, longer reproductive lifespan, and later menopause.
The authors proposed that risk variation in women may not be linked to childbearing because a similar pattern was observed between the number of children fathered and dementia risk among a similar number of men.
With dementia on the rise and in the absence of significant treatment breakthroughs, the focus has been on reducing the risk of developing the disease.
These findings may be helpful for identifying high-risk women to participate in future clinical trials to assess potential preventive measures and treatments.
Sign up for our newsletter for more information about this topic.
If you care about dementia, please read studies about walking patterns may help identify specific types of dementia, and common high blood pressure drugs may help lower your dementia risk.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about this tooth disease linked to dementia, and results showing this MIND diet may protect your cognitive function, prevent dementia.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
