Overview
- University of Galway and Boston University researchers reported associations between reproductive timing, hormone exposure and later dementia in women drawn from the Framingham Heart Study.
- Post‑menopausal hormone replacement therapy was associated with a lower likelihood of developing dementia in the cohort.
- Greater cumulative exposure to estrogen was tied to better cognitive test performance and larger brain volumes on MRI.
- Having more children and being older at menopause were linked to specific cognitive advantages, including stronger visuospatial skills.
- The findings were published in the Journal for Alzheimer's Disease in October 2025, with authors emphasizing that results are observational and need further validation.