Menopause and cognitive impairment: A narrative review of current knowledge

Table 1 Observational studies on hormone therapy and cognition in women

Ref.	Study	Country	Design	n (%)	Age (yr)	Hormone therapy	Main findings
Carlson et al[77], 2001	Cache County Study	United States	Longitudinal	2073	≥ 65	ET or EPT	HT reduced cognitive decline
Seshadri et al[72], 2001		United Kingdom	Case-control	AD: 59. Controls: 221	Mean: 66.7	ET or EPT	HT was not associated with AD
Kang et al[76], 2004	Nurses’ Health Study	United States	Longitudinal	13807	≥ 70	ET or EPT	HT was not associated with relevant cognitive benefits
Henderson et al[82], 2005	Mirage Study	United States, Canada, Germany	Case-control	AD: 426. Controls: 545	Mean: 71.1	ET or EPT	HT reduced the AD risk by 30%
Ryan et al[69], 2009	Three City Study	France	Longitudinal	3130	≥ 65	ET or EPT	HT was not associated with dementia or AD, but current users had better cognitive performance in specific domains
Shao et al[79], 2012	Cache County Study extended	United States	Longitudinal	1768	≥ 65	ET or EPT	HT initiated within five years of menopause decreased the AD risk by 30%
Whitmer et al[80], 2011	Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California	United States	Longitudinal	5504	Mean in midlife: 48.7	ET or EPT	The use of HT only in midlife reduced the dementia risk. On the other hand, the use of HT in late-life increased this risk
Imtiaz et al[70], 2017	Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention study	Finland	Longitudinal	8195	46 a 56	ET or EPT	Long-term HT users (> 10 yr) exhibited a 47% reduction in the AD risk
Savolainen-Peltonen et al[83], 2019		Finland	Case-control	AD: 84739. Controls: 84739	Mean age at onset of systemic HT: 52	ET or EPT	HT increased the AD risk by 9%-17%, regardless of the age of onset of use and the type of HT

ET: Estrogen-only therapy; EPT: Estrogen-progestogen therapy; HT: Hormone therapy; AD: Alzheimer’s disease.