02/23/2026
A menopause-Alzheimer’s connection has been known for years, and for example, women who had hysterectomies by age 40 who were not treated with hormone replacement doubled their risk for Alzheimer’s. New research using MRI imaging adds a new insight to this relationship: during menopause, women experience a loss of grey matter in brain regions that control memory and emotion. HRT therapy did not appear to prevent grey matter loss in this study, but it is not yet known whether this loss was indeed associated with increased risk for dementia. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qpp1g5ylvo