Menopause is a biological process that all women undergo when their ovaries gradually stop working. Due to the fact that women are born with a definite number of eggs, there comes a point when a woman runs out of viable eggs. The official start of menopause is when a woman goes 12 months without a menstrual cycle. However, the process of menopause could last for years, depending on the individual. Along with the loss of function in the ovaries, menopause brings about a variety of mental and physical symptoms. Some of these symptoms include: hot flashes, chills, night sweats, sleep problems, mood changes, weight gain, slowed metabolism, dry skin, and countless others.
A news article, "Here’s the Current Thinking on Hormone Therapy (It’s Not What You Heard 20 Years Ago)," from Forbes magazine, explains the current scientific opinion regarding hormone therapy as a form of treatment to mediate the symptoms that coincide with menopause. According to the article, nearly twenty years ago, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study was conducted to determine the effects of hormone therapy on women. In this study, women entering menopause were randomly given either hormone therapy, which consisted of a combination of estrogen and progestin, or a placebo. However, the researchers quickly discovered that women given the hormone therapy presented with a higher risk of heart attacks, breast cancer, and blood clots, causing the study to be abruptly terminated. They believed that the risks of hormone therapy heavily outweighed the benefits, which immediately made headlines across the nation and caused the use of hormone therapy to plummet by nearly 80%. However, upon recent analysis of the study data, researchers determined that the risk was only relevant for older women. In the case of younger women just beginning their menopause journey, the benefits of hormone therapy dramatically outweighed the risks.
A study done by Pauline Maki et al., "Perimenopausal use of hormone therapy is associated with enhanced memory and hippocampal function later in life", further supports the claim that hormone therapy is beneficial to women entering menopause. In this specific study, they looked at how supplemental estrogen use affects the verbal working memory of menopausal women. They were particularly interested in the "critical window hypothesis", which states that initiation of hormone therapy early in perimenopause or postmenopause results in more benefits in regards to verbal memory as well as the neural systems underlying memory. The researchers concluded that continuous use of hormone therapy, when initiated early in perimenopause, results in enhanced performance in verbal working memory. These results support both the idea that hormone therapy is beneficial to women entering menopause and the critical window hypothesis.
The results of the study conducted by Maki et al., along with the information presented by Forbes Magazine, provide a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of hormone therapy for menopausal women. The article provides a starting point for women who are entering the menopausal state and are considering using a form of hormone therapy. The study goes further by supporting the information in the article and providing concrete evidence of the neurological benefits that result from hormone therapy. Hopefully, the combination of this article, the Maki study, and the countless other clinical studies currently underway will lead to an overall shift in opinion regarding hormone therapy for both the scientific community and the rest of society.
References:
Elsesser, Kim. “Here's the Current Thinking on Hormone Therapy (It's Not What You Heard 20
Years Ago).” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2022/04/19/heres-the-current-thinking-on-hormone-therapy-its-not-what-you-heard-20-years-ago/?sh=160050a44787.
Maki, Pauline M., et al. “Perimenopausal Use of Hormone Therapy Is Associated with Enhanced
Memory and Hippocampal Function Later in Life.” Brain Research, vol. 1379, 2011, pp. 232–243., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2010.11.030.
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