27/08/2026
I shared an interesting article about HRT and dementia in my WhatsApp chat group this morning, and it immediately got us talking.
The headline was:
“Scientists pinpoint exactly when women should start HRT to slash dementia risk.”
This one caught my eye on a personal level too. Dementia has featured heavily in my own family history, so anything looking at brain health and dementia risk is always going to make me stop and read. Add menopause and HRT into the mix, and I'm obviously going to be interested both personally and professionally.
And the research itself is really interesting.
Looking at data from more than 183,000 postmenopausal women, researchers found that women who had used HRT had around a 10% lower risk of dementia overall and a 16% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease compared with women who had never used it.
Timing seemed to matter too, with the greatest benefit seen in women who started HRT between the ages of 46 and 56.
But the headline immediately prompted a few questions in our group...
“Should I have waited?”
“I started HRT before 50, does that mean I won't get as much benefit?”
And this is where I think we need to be a little careful about how we interpret research like this.
It doesn't mean that 51 is suddenly the “perfect” age to start HRT.
And it certainly doesn't mean that if you started at 45 because you were having horrendous hot flushes, weren't sleeping, couldn't think straight and generally felt like your previous self had left the building, you should have struggled on for another six years in the hope of getting a bigger dementia benefit later!
Because HRT isn't prescribed purely as a dementia-prevention strategy.
For many women, it's about managing symptoms that are affecting their life right now. There are also conversations around bone and cardiovascular health, particularly depending on a woman's age, menopause timing and individual circumstances.
It's also worth remembering what this particular study was actually looking at: HRT and dementia risk.
It wasn't asking:
“At what age should every woman start HRT?”
That's a very different question.
And this was an observational study, so while it found an association between HRT use and reduced dementia risk, it can't tell us that HRT itself caused that reduction.
So for me, the takeaway isn't:
"Wait until you're 51 to start HRT.”
It's more:
“This is another really interesting piece of the jigsaw when it comes to hormones, menopause and women's long-term brain health.”
And perhaps another reminder of why conversations around HRT need to be individual.
When are your symptoms happening? How much are they affecting you? What are your own health considerations and risk factors? What matters to you?
There isn't one “perfect” age or one answer that fits every woman.
And speaking personally, with dementia featuring so heavily in my own family history, I find research like this really encouraging. But I also don't want a headline about a particular age to make women worry that they started HRT “too early” or somehow got it wrong.
I'd be really interested to know what you thought when you saw the headline.
Did it make you question when you started HRT, or when you might start it? 💚
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/hrt-therapy-menopause-symptoms-dementia-b3039514.html?fbclid=IwZnRzaAT8tXxwZG9mBWZkaWQWUNQamECQ75UqZ39tCDoygmNXQMjXLWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5YeoESloE7deQBG2ebr_65wAwh59u0j0Aln6jGzc5vhgJkx-hK2BxOzEPl3Q_aem_LNGiEY6HgQz2OMI1V69j0g
The study also found that women who naturally had lower exposure to oestrogen over their lifetime seemed to have a 16 per cent reduced odds of dementia
