The Link Between Menopause and Alzheimer's

Scientists are exploring a potential connection between hormonal changes related to menopause and the development of Alzheimer's in women, reports the Wall Street Journal . Studies indicate that when estrogen production slows during menopause, the brain's metabolism appears to decelerate. Estrogen shields the female brain from aging and stimulates neural activity, and it also may help prevent accrual of clusters of plaques linked to Alzheimer's. An examination of women in their 50s who underwent hormone replacement therapy to mitigate menopause determined estrogen therapy lowered the risk of death related to heart disease and breast cancer. "The jury is still out and we're still trying to sort out all of the current data, whether hormone replacement therapy will help prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease or even put women at risk," notes University of Southern California Professor Howard Hodis. A 2017 study published in Neurology analyzed the brain activity of 42 healthy 40- to 60-year-old women and 18 men of a similar age via positron-emission tomography, and found perimenopausal women had a 15 percent to 20 percent reduction in brain metabolism versus men. Postmenopausal women had more than 30 percent reduction, and exhibited emergent Alzheimer's plaques in the brain.