According to a study published in the journal JAMA Neurology, women who have early menopause are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimers disease. However, a similar risk was not observed in women who were prescribed hormone therapy around the age of menopause onset.

The findings of the study showed that an increased level of tau protein was present in women who were taking hormone therapy, especially those who reported a delay between the age of menopause and initiation of the therapy. Hence, it was concluded that administering hormone therapy close to menopause onset provided better cognition.

For the study, the team used positron emission tomography (PET) neuroimaging scans obtained from 292 participants, both men and women, to evaluate the presence of two proteins involved in Alzheimer’s, beta-amyloid and tau, as well as the age at menopause and hormone therapy use. The PET scan of the study cohorts showed that women had greater levels of tau and beta-amyloid in comparison to men of the same age.

But when the results of the women participants were compared, it was found that the association between abnormal levels of beta-amyloid and tau was much stronger in women who had earlier menopause onset. There was no significant difference observed in the results even after adjusting for known causes of premature menopause, such as smoking, oophorectomy, and genetic risk factors for Alzheimer`s. 

(Source: https://www.ibtimes.co.in/early-menopause-can-make-women-prone-alzheimers-disease-study-858009 )