Grey matter differences associated with age and sex hormone levels between premenopausal and perimenopausal women: A...

The present study aimed to explore brain morphological alterations associated with age and sex hormone levels between premenopausal and perimenopausal women using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T₁ -weighted structural images. Thirty-two premenopausal women aged (mean ± SD) 47.75 ± 1.55 years and twenty-five recently perimenopausal women aged 51.60 ± 1.63 years were evaluated for sex hormone levels, including prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, oestradiol, free testosterone and progesterone. A 3.0-Tesla MRI scanner was utilised to acquire T₁ images. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to evaluate changes in grey matter volume between the two groups. The general linear model was applied with false discovery rate correction for between group voxel-wise statistics. Spearman partial correlation analyses were conducted between age, sex hormone levels and regions of grey matter volume showing significant differences between the two groups. The VBM analysis revealed that age and menopause per se lead to grey matter volume reduction in certain brain structures. These structural changes might be potential causes of sexual dysfunction, nervous system degeneration and depression, which need to be examined in future studies. Our findings might provide evidence and guide future research in understanding the menopausal transition.