Does Menopausal Hormone Therapy Raise Dementia Risk?

Some studies have shown excess risk for dementia in older women (age, ≥65) who use menopausal hormone therapy. Whether use of hormone therapy by younger women, around the time of natural menopause, is associated with dementia risk is uncertain.

In this case-control study using Denmark's national registries, researchers identified 5600 incident cases of dementia in the years 2000 to 2018 among women who were middle-aged (age range, 50–60) in 2000. Cases were compared with 56,000 age-matched controls, with combined estrogen-progestin treatment as the primary exposure of interest. In analyses adjusted for potentially confounding factors, the following outcomes were noted:

• Compared with never-users, users of hormone therapy had significantly high…