Language performance in postmenopausal women with and without hormone therapy and men

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Endocrinology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Postmenopausal women often experience cognitive changes.
• Hormone therapy (HT) is used to manage menopausal symptoms.
• The impact of HT on cognitive functions like language is under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of hormone therapy (HT) on language functioning.
• To compare language abilities in postmenopausal women (HT users and non-users) with age-matched men.

Main Methods:

• 100 participants (33 HT users, 15 HT non-users, 52 men) aged ~62 years.
• Assessment of verbal fluency and object naming at baseline and after 2.6 years.
• Comparison of language performance changes over time between groups.

Main Results:

• Men exhibited higher baseline composite language scores than HT users.
• HT users showed significantly greater improvement in language function over time compared to men.
• HT non-users performed similarly to men, with no observed language improvement.

Conclusions:

• Hormone therapy use is associated with enhanced language abilities in postmenopausal women.
• The findings suggest a potential benefit of HT for language maintenance or improvement in this demographic.