A new article entitled “Menopausal hormone therapy and dementia: nationwide, nested case-control study” has recently been published in the journal The BMJ. Researchers from Denmark conducted a nationwide study on the association between menopausal hormone therapy and development of dementia. Drawing on national registry data, they identified 5,589 cases of dementia and 55,890 age matched controls between 2000 and 2018 from a population of all Danish women aged 50-60 years in 2000 with no history of dementia or contraindications for use of menopausal hormone therapy. Results showed that, people who had received oestrogen-progestogen therapy had an increased rate of developing all cause dementia, late onset dementia and Alzheimer's disease, even in women who received treatment at the age of 55 years or younger. Rates were higher with longer use. In addition, oestrogen-progestogen therapy was positively associated with development of dementia for both continuous and cyclic treatment regimens. This is an observational study with strengths and weaknesses in relation to other studies. Authors recommend further studies to explore whether these findings “represent an actual effect of menopausal hormone therapy on dementia risk, or whether they reflect an underlying predisposition in women in need of these treatments.”
