Beyond sex differences: short and long-term implications of motherhood on women’s health

Galea, Liisa A.M.; Qiu, Wansu; Duarte‐Guterman, Paula

doi:10.1016/j.cophys.2018.06.003

Cited by 31 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Further, the influence of sex-hormone exposure on the brain may be genotype-specific, with more prominent effects of timing and dosage of hormone replacements in women with a genetic risk for AD. These findings represent an important contribution to the understudied field of female-specific factors and women's brain aging (Galea et al, 2018), which may complement prospective longitudinal studies on women's brain health and epidemiological sex-differences in AD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Women's brain aging: Effects of sex‐hormone exposure, pregnancies, and genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease

Lange

Barth

Kaufmann

et al. 2020

Human Brain Mapping

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Sex hormones such as estrogen fluctuate across the female lifespan, with high levels during reproductive years and natural decline during the transition to menopause. Women's exposure to estrogen may influence their heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) relative to men, but little is known about how it affects normal brain aging. Recent findings from the UK Biobank demonstrate less apparent brain aging in women with a history of multiple childbirths, highlighting a potential link between sex-hormone exposure and brain aging. We investigated endogenous and exogenous sex-hormone exposure, genetic risk for AD, and neuroimaging-derived biomarkers for brain aging in 16,854 middle to older-aged women. The results showed that as opposed to parity, higher cumulative sex-hormone exposure was associated with more evident brain aging, indicating that i) high levels of cumulative exposure to sex-hormones may have adverse effects on the brain, and ii) beneficial effects of pregnancies on the female brain are not solely attributable to modulations in sexhormone exposure. In addition, for women using hormonal replacement therapy (HRT), starting treatment earlier was associated with less evident brain aging, but only in women with a genetic risk for AD. Genetic factors may thus contribute to how timing of HRT initiation influences women's brain aging trajectories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Women's brain aging: Effects of sex‐hormone exposure, pregnancies, and genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease

Lange

Barth

Kaufmann

et al. 2020

Human Brain Mapping

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of large datasets does, however, enable the identification of subtle effects that could go undetected in smaller samples. Although parity may explain only a small portion of the variance in brain aging, the current findings represent an important part of the wider picture of women's brain aging, as well as sex differences in risk factors and disease (9,30).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…In the postpartum period, regional gray matter increases have been found in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and prefrontal cortex (6). Postpartum regional reductions have also been reported (7)(8)(9), some of which are positively related to maternal attachment (8). While some maternal brain changes revert during the postpartum period, others extend well beyond this phase (1,7,8,10) and may influence the course of neurobiological aging later in life.…”

Section: Maternal Brain Adaptations Have Been Found Across Pregnancy mentioning

confidence: 99%

Population-based neuroimaging reveals traces of childbirth in the maternal brain

Lange

Kaufmann

Meer

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

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Maternal brain adaptations have been found across pregnancy and postpartum, but little is known about the long-term effects of parity on the maternal brain. Using neuroimaging and machine learning, we investigated structural brain characteristics in 12,021 middle-aged women from the UK Biobank, demonstrating that parous women showed less evidence of brain aging compared to their nulliparous peers. The relationship between childbirths and a “younger-looking” brain could not be explained by common genetic variation or relevant confounders. Although prospective longitudinal studies are needed, the results suggest that parity may involve neural changes that could influence women’s brain aging later in life.

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“…Despite the known sex differences in prevalence, as well as symptoms, severity, and treatment responses [25,26], there has been limited focus on how sex-specific immunology affects brain aging [27,25]. Recent studies have shown that pregnancy-related endocrinological fluctuations influence neural plasticity and brain structure in animals [28,29,30,31,32] and humans [33,34,35,36], and that biological processes related to menopause can have significant effects on brain health [37]. During pregnancy and menopause, the female immune system undergoes substantial changes [38,39], and evidence suggests that the immune regulations that occur during these major transitional phases may play an important part in women's brain aging trajectories [40,41,42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an understanding of women's brain aging: the immunology of pregnancy and menopause

Barth¹,

Lange²

2020

Preprint

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Women are at significantly greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and show higher prevalence of autoimmune conditions relative to men. Women's brain health is historically understudied, and little is therefore known about the mechanisms underlying epidemiological sex differences in neurodegenerative diseases, and how female-specific factors may influence women's brain health across the lifespan. In this review, we summarize recent studies on the immunology of pregnancy and menopause, emphasizing that these major immunological and hormonal transition phases may play a critical part in women's brain aging trajectories.

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Beyond sex differences: short and long-term implications of motherhood on women’s health

Cited by 31 publications

References 79 publications

Women's brain aging: Effects of sex‐hormone exposure, pregnancies, and genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease

Women's brain aging: Effects of sex‐hormone exposure, pregnancies, and genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease

Population-based neuroimaging reveals traces of childbirth in the maternal brain

Towards an understanding of women's brain aging: the immunology of pregnancy and menopause

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