Menopause makes you crazy

Submitted by shelbydburns Fri 12/03/2010

It’s official: menopause does make you crazy. And if not the actual menopause, the hormones prescribed to help it. It seems that compared to women who never took hormone replacement therapy, those women who took hormones only at mid-life had a 26% decreased risk of dementia. Women who took hormones late in life actually suffered for it with a 48% increase risk of dementia according to a Kaiser Permanente Study. Timing is everything.

Previous research has shown that initiation of estrogen hormone therapy in late life increases the risk of dementia, but new animal studies suggest midlife introduction of HRT may be more beneficial. This study is the first study comparing mid to late life hormone intake and its relationship to dementia.

“This study is unique because we had a group of women who were on HT in midlife only and could look at their dementia risk over time, and we found a modest, protective association. We also found that if you start HT late in life, you have a 50% increased risk of dementia, which is consistent with other studies,\” said study lead author Rachel Whitmer, PhD, a research scientist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA. “Women should speak with their doctor about what’s best for their individual situation, however it appears form this study that women who are on short-term HT in midlife may benefit form a modest protective association, while initiation in late-life can cause harm.”

Midlife is a mean age of 48.7 years.

Source: Kaiser Permanente

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