A link has been established between earlier menopause, increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cognitive problems later in life. new research was announced on neurology. These Canadian researchers Researchers investigated whether age at menopause, vascular risk, and history of hormone therapy (HT), including estrogen, influenced cognitive function in more than 8,000 women over three years of follow-up.

“We found that experiencing this hormonal change early in life while having cardiovascular risk factors was associated with greater cognitive problems compared to men of the same age.” said Dr. Jennifer Rabin.

As people age, controllable cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking can damage blood vessels, including those in the brain. These risk factors not only increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, but also increase their risk of dementia. In this study, early menopause was defined as occurring before age 49.

“While we know that cardiovascular risk factors increase the risk of dementia, we don’t know much about why women are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease than men,” Rabin says. “We investigated whether hormonal changes during menopause, and specifically the timing of menopause, may play a role in this increased risk.”

The study included 8,360 age-matched female and 8,360 male participants enrolled in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. The average age of women at menopause was 50 years. The average age of all participants at the start of the study was 65 years and they were followed for three years.

The researchers divided the women into three groups. One group was between the ages of 35 and 48 who had experienced early menopause. The average age of menopause is 49 to 52 years. The researchers also looked at whether the women took hormone therapy, including estrogen.

Researchers looked at six cardiovascular risk factors in all participants: high LDL cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, and prescription of blood pressure-lowering medications.

Participants took a series of thinking and memory tests at the beginning and end of the study, and a cognitive score was calculated for each participant. The researchers then examined the association between cardiovascular risk and cognitive scores in the three groups of female participants and compared them with those of male participants.

After adjusting for factors such as age and education, the researchers found that female participants who entered menopause earlier and had higher cardiovascular risk had lower cognitive scores three years later. For every one standard deviation increase in cardiovascular risk score, female participants with early menopause had a 0.044 standard deviation decrease in cognitive scores, whereas male participants in the same age group had a 0.035 standard deviation decrease in cognitive scores.

The researchers did not find a similar association for female participants at or after average menopause. Hormone therapy did not affect the results.

“Our study suggests that early menopause may exacerbate the effects of high cardiovascular risk on cognitive decline,” Rabin said. “Our study followed participants for only three years, so further research over a longer period of time is needed. Our findings suggest that cardiovascular risk is not the only factor to consider when developing strategies to prevent cognitive decline. It emphasizes that age at menopause should also be taken into account.