Brain volume changes in menopause may partly explain women's higher dementia risk, according to researchers

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

The menopause may be linked to reductions in brain grey matter volume which could help explain why women are more likely to suffer dementia than men, according to researchers from a large UK study.

The analysis, which used observational data from almost 125,000 women in the UK Biobank, found that postmenopausal women reported higher levels of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and fatigue than those who were premenopausal.

Brain scans of 10,873 participants showed that these symptoms were linked to small but significant reductions in brain grey matter volume.

Changes were seen in the hippocampus, responsible for storing memories, the entorhinal cortex, which passes information from the hippocampus to the rest of the brain, and the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps manage emotions, decisions and focus.

Use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) did not appear to prevent these changes, although it seemed to preserve reaction times.

Professor Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge, said: “The brain regions where we saw these differences are ones that tend to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Menopause could make these women vulnerable further down the line.