Does age at menopause affect memory?

Entering menopause at a later age may be associated with a small benefit to your memory years later, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The paper, published today in Neurology and funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) suggests a possible link between entering the menopause late and memory retention. "This study suggests that lifelong hormonal processes, not just short-term fluctuations during menopause, may be associated with memory skills," said lead author, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Diana Kuh at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL. The study involved 1,315 British women from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development who had been followed since their birth in March 1946. All of the women had tests to assess their verbal memory skills and their cognitive processing speed at 43, 53, between the ages of 60 and 64 and age 69. The researchers collected information on age at menopause (either natural or due to hysterectomy or removal of the ovaries), whether they took hormone replacement therapy, and other factors that could affect thinking and memory skills, such as childhood cognitive ability, amount of education, smoking and type of occupation. Menopause, which is defined as the age at last menstrual cycle, started on average for the women with natural menopause at age 51 and a half.