A new study by researchers at Mass General Brigham, a network of hospitals in the United States, provides evidence that early menopause may be a risk factor for women to develop Alzheimer’s.
Early menopause is defined as the permanent end of menstruation before age 45. By observing this trend, scientists found that patients who start hormone replacement therapy early in menopause are more protected against the disease. The conclusions are in an article published on Monday (3/4), in Jama Neurology magazine.
Previous research shows that women are more likely to get Alzheimer’s – an estimated two out of three patients with the disease are female – and that hormone replacement may increase the risk of cognitive decline. But researchers at Mass General Brigham found that the tipping point may be when treatment begins.
“Hormone therapy can have negative effects on cognition, but only if started several years after menopause. These observational findings support clinical guidelines that treatment should be given close to the onset of menopause rather than several years later.”
imaging exams
The scientists used CT scans to study how the presence of β-amyloid and tau proteins are related to age at menopause and the use of hormone therapy.
They also studied brain scans of 292 adults without cognitive problems to determine levels of amyloid and tau in seven brain regions.
Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease caused by the death of brain cells that can appear decades before the first symptoms appear.PM Images/ Getty Images
***Photo-doctor-looking-tomography.jpgBecause it is a disease that tends to get worse over the years, early diagnosis is essential to delay the progression. Therefore, when presenting any symptoms of the disease, it is essential to consult a specialist. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images
***Photo-woman-with-hand-on-head.jpgAlthough the symptoms are more common in people over 70 years of age, it is not uncommon for them to manifest in young people around 30. In fact, when this “premature” manifestation occurs, the condition is called early Alzheimer’s.Westend61/ Getty Images
***Photo-elderly-with-hands-on-head.jpgIn the initial phase, a person with Alzheimer’s tends to have changes in memory and starts to forget simple things, such as: where he kept his keys, what he had for breakfast, someone’s name or even the season of the year.urbazon/ Getty Images
***Photo-person-walking-in-a-maze.jpgDisorientation, difficulty remembering the address where you live or the way home, difficulties in making simple decisions, such as planning what you are going to do or eat, for example, are also signs of the disease.OsakaWayne Studios/ Getty Images
***Photo-elderly-with-hands-on-head-2.jpgIn addition, loss of desire to perform routine tasks, change in behavior (making the person more nervous or aggressive), and repetitions are some of the most common symptoms.Kobus Louw/ Getty Images
***Photo-doctors-looking-tomography.jpgAccording to research carried out by the Alzheimer’s Drugs Discovery Foundation (ADDF), the presence of damaged proteins (Amyloid and Tau), vascular diseases, neuroinflammation, failure of neural and genetic energy (APOE) may be related to the onset of the disease.Rossella De Berti/ Getty Images
***Photo-hands-on-the-table-holding-medicine.jpgAlzheimer’s treatment is done with the use of medications to reduce the symptoms of the disease, in addition to being necessary to perform physical therapy and cognitive stimulation. The disease has no cure and care must be taken until the end of lifeTowfiqu Barbhuiya / EyeEm/ Getty Images
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The results showed higher levels of tau protein in women who had a long delay in starting hormone replacement after the onset of menopause, when compared to women who started treatment soon afterwards.
Patients with early menopause also had higher levels of tau compared to men of the same age, especially in cases where they also had elevated levels of β-amyloid. The highest concentrations of tau were located in regions of the brain close to the memory center known to be involved in Alzheimer’s progression.
“The idea that tau deposition might be behind the association between late hormone therapy intervention and Alzheimer’s dementia was a major discovery, something that had not been seen before,” says researcher Rachel Buckley, also author of the study. study.
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