Editor’s Pick: The older you are during pregnancy, childbearing and menopause, a lower risk of dementia in women, according to a new study. Conversely, hysterectomy, younger age at first birth, and younger or older than average age at first birth were associated with a higher risk of dementia.
Dementia rates are on the rise around the world, with some studies reporting higher rates in women than in men, but there is limited evidence on reproductive factors and dementia risk. Using data from the UK Biobank, Jessica Gong and colleagues at the George Institute for Global Health in Australia looked at all dementia risk and reproductive factors in 273,240 women and 228,965 men, as well as the number of children these women had.
After controlling for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, body mass index (BMI), and other factors, short-term cumulative endogenous estrogens associated with certain events, such as age at first birth Being younger than average, having menopause younger than average, having a hysterectomy, was associated with a higher risk of dementia. Pregnancy, even miscarriage, longer childbearing years, older menopause, and use of birth control pills were all associated with a lower risk of all-cause dementia. For both men and women, having no children or having four or more children was significantly associated with a higher risk of dementia than having two children.
The study has limitations, including a retrospective report on reproductive factors that may have been biased, and the fact that the UK Biobank was a relatively healthy affluent population of white British ancestry, Therefore may not be representative of the wider population.
Gong added: “Reproductive activity with shorter exposure to endogenous estrogens in women is associated with a higher risk of dementia, and these findings underscore the risk of dementia in women However, similar associations between the number of children and dementia risk observed in women and men suggest that changes in dementia risk in women may be more related to social and behavioural factors in parenting, rather than biological factors related to fertility.”
Source: PLOS
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