To investigate the impact of menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on mental health and brain structure in women.
Key Findings:
Postmenopausal women reported higher anxiety and depression levels compared to premenopausal women, along with higher levels of insomnia, tiredness, and shorter sleep duration.
HRT users had greater mental health challenges and more clinical contact for psychiatric symptoms than non-HRT users, with tiredness being highest in the HRT group.
Interpretation:
HRT does not appear to alleviate mental health issues or prevent gray matter volume loss in postmenopausal women and may be associated with pre-existing mental health burdens, as indicated by higher baseline psychiatric symptoms in HRT initiators.
Limitations:
Study excluded women with dementia, hysterectomy, early menopause (onset prior to age 30), and those with incomplete data.
Potential confounding factors may not have been fully accounted for despite statistical adjustments.
Conclusion:
Menopause is linked to worse mental health and brain structure changes, and HRT does not mitigate these effects.
