Women who have been exposed to more estrogen during their lifetime are less likely to show signs of the brain shrinkage at midlife in areas that are also associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds.
Participants included 99 women in their late 40s and late 50s. Investigators analyzed personal histories, magnetic resonance imaging brain scans and cognitive tests. Cumulative exposure to estrogen due in part to reproductive history was associated with higher grey matter volume in areas of the brain found to be vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease in earlier studies, they reported.
Indicators of higher overall estrogen exposure included a longer span of reproductive years, having had more children, taking hormone therapy for menopause symptoms and having used hormonal contraceptives. Overall, these experiences may help to counter a decline in the brain’s gray matter volume associated with menopause, they said.
Grey matter makes up the cellular matter of the brain. It naturally shrinks in both men and women in older age, but loss in certain brain areas is tied to cognitive decline, the researchers said.
“Our findings suggest that while the menopause transition may bring vulnerability for the female brain, other reproductive history events indicating greater estrogen exposure bring resilience instead,” said Lisa Mosconi, Ph.D., of Weill Cornell Medicine and an expert in Alzheimer’s and women’s health.
Full findings were published in the journal Neurology.
