Hormone therapy doesn’t impact brain function when used in early stages of menopause

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Hormone replacement therapy during the early stages of menopause - typically around age 50 - doesn't hurt or help brain function, according to a new study.

Researchers found that women between the ages of 50 and 55 years old who took estrogen or estrogen with progesterone performed just as well on tests that measure memory problems as women of the same age who took a placebo.

"Our findings are that we didn't see any long term impact on cognitive function," said Mark Espeland, the study's lead author, from the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Previous studies had found that women 65 years old and older suffered lasting memory problems when they used hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, vaginal dryness and trouble sleeping.

Imaging tests even found that the brains of those older women assigned to hormone therapy had become smaller, compared to those who took a placebo.

Currently, the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that postmenopausal women avoid hormone replacement therapy due to increased risks of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer and dementia.

Some research, however, has suggested there may be a "window of opportunity" when women first enter menopause that allows the safe use of hormones to possibly decrease their risk of conditions such as heart disease. What the effects would be on younger women's brains, however, has been unclear.

For the new study, Espeland and his colleagues used data on 1,326 women between the ages of 50 and 55 in the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study to see whether taking estrogen or estrogen and progesterone led to any problems or benefits in brain health.

The women were assigned to take estrogen, estrogen and progesterone or a placebo for about seven years at the beginning of the study between 1996 and 1999. They were then followed for about the next 14 years.

During the follow-up period, the women were asked 14 questions that measured their cognitive abilities during phone interviews.

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Hormone therapy doesn’t impact brain function when used in early stages of menopause