Does age at menopause affect memory?

And it is not affected by the use of hormone therapy.

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A new study by the UCL scientists suggests that Entering menopause at a later age might be related with a little advantage to your memory years after the fact. The study estimated a possible link between entering the menopause late and memory retention.

The investigation included 1,315 British ladies from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development who had been taken after since their introduction to the world in March 1946. The majority of the ladies had tests to survey their verbal memory abilities and their psychological handling speed at 43, 53, between the ages of 60 and 64 and age 69.

The analysts gathered data on age at menopause (either normal or because of hysterectomy or expulsion of the ovaries), regardless of whether they took hormone substitution treatment, and different variables that could influence considering and memory aptitudes, for example, youth intellectual capacity, a measure of training, smoking and kind of occupation.

Menopause, which is characterized by the age finally menstrual cycle, began all things considered for the ladies with characteristic menopause at age 51 and a half.

For the verbal memory test, members were requested to review a 15-thing list three times, with the greatest score of 45. At age 43, members reviewed a normal of 25.8 words. By age 69, they reviewed a normal of 23.3 words. The examination found that among 846 ladies who experienced menopause normally, ladies who had later menopause had higher verbal memory scores, recalling 0.17 extra words for every year. After specialists balanced for different elements that could influence memory, the distinction was 0.09 extra words for each year.

For 313 women who experienced menopause due to surgery, the relationship between age at the time of surgery and memory scores was no longer present after researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect memory. On the test of how fast the women could process information, there was no relationship between the age at menopause and test scores.

Lead author, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Diana Kuh said, “This study suggests that lifelong hormonal processes, not just short-term fluctuations during menopause, may be associated with memory skills.”

“The difference in verbal memory scores after 10 years from the start of menopause was small—recalling only one additional word, but it’s possible that this benefit could translate to a reduced risk of dementia years later. More research and follow-up are needed to determine whether that is the case.”

Limitations of the study were that the tests of memory and processing speed were taken relatively far apart in time and that information was not available on the dose for women taking hormone therapy.

The paper, published today in Neurology and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

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