Life long endogenous estrogen exposure and later adulthood cognitive function in a population of naturally postmenopausal women from Southern China: The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study

Heys, Michelle; Jiang, Chaoqiang; Cheng, Kar Keung; Zhang, Weisen; Yeung, Shiu Lun Au; Lam, Tai Hing; Leung, Gabriel M.; Schooling, CM

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.11.009

Cited by 71 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…An increasing number of reproductive years, resulting from a younger age at menarche and/or an older age at menopause, indicates a higher lifetime endogenous estrogen exposure [19]. We found that a longer reproductive period was associated with a significantly better cognitive function (MMSE), in agreement with the majority of previous studies [10][11][12]. Other studies [20][21][22] also reported the similar effect of reproductive period on the risk of dementia and AD, but not all studies [13,23,24].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…We found that women with 5 or more times of full-term pregnancies had worse cognitive function, compared with those who had fewer times of full-term pregnancies. Previous studies generally supported that despite the high levels of estrogen during pregnancy, women with more parity were associated with the higher risk of cognitive impairment [10][11][12]27] and AD [28][29][30], due to lower circulating estrogen over lifetime than women with fewer parity or nulliparity [25,31]. In contrast, our results is the first to find that women with 3 or more times of incomplete pregnancies were not associated with the decline in cognitive performance compared with women who had fewer times of incomplete pregnancies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The majority of studies supported that better cognitive performance in later life was associated with proxies of higher lifetime estrogen exposure, including longer reproductive period (years between menarche and menopause) and less parity [10][11][12]. On the contrary, others observed a negative or no association [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reproductive History and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern China

Chen

et al. 2015

JAD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract.Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that proxies of higher lifetime estrogen exposure are associated with better cognitive function in postmenopausal women, but this has not been found consistently. Objective: To determine whether reproductive history, an important modifier of estrogen exposure across the lifetime, is associated with risk of cognitive impairment in postmenopausal women. Methods: We analyzed the baseline data from Zhejiang Major Public Health Surveillance Program (ZPHS) including 4,796 postmenopausal women. Cognitive impairment was assessed through the application of Mini-Mental State Examination questionnaire. Logistic regression models, controlled for an extensive range of potential confounders, were generated to examine the associations between women's reproductive history and risk of cognitive impairment in their later life. Results: The length of reproductive period was inversely associated with risk of cognitive impairment (p = 0.001). Odds ratio (OR) of cognitive impairment were 1.316 (95% CI 1.095∼1.582) for women with 5 or more times of full-term pregnancies, compared with those with 1∼4 times of full-term pregnancies. Women without incomplete pregnancy had a significant higher risk of cognitive impairment (OR = 1.194, 95% CI 1.000∼1.429), compared with the reference (1∼2 times of incomplete pregnancies). Oral contraceptive use (OR = 0.489, 95% CI 0.263∼0.910) and intrauterine device (IUD) use (OR = 0.684, 95% CI 0.575∼0.815) were associated with significantly reduced risk of cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Our results indicated that shorter reproductive period, higher number of full-term pregnancies and no incomplete pregnancy history were associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. In contrast, oral contraceptive and IUD use corresponded to reduced risk of cognitive impairment.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reproductive History and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern China

Chen

et al. 2015

JAD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Two studies from China and the United States found that high parity was associated with lower (Heys et al, 2011) or greater decline in cognitive functioning in older women (McLay, Maki, & Lyketsos, 2003). Childlessness was conversely associated with better cognitive functioning (McLay et al, 2003).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We use nationally representative longitudinal data from England to investigate the association between fertility history and later life cognitive functioning in women and men. Unlike most previous studies on this topic which have focused on the possible role of differential exposures to estrogen and other hormones in women (Behl, 2002;Heys et al, 2011;Ryan et al, 2012;Tierney et al, 2013), we consider a broader range of psychosocial factors which may be as or more important and are relevant to both men and women.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fertility History and Cognition in Later Life.

Read

Grundy

2015

International Journal of Epidemiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fertility experiences and later‐life cognitive function among older adults in China

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2022

American J Hum Biol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: The relationship between fertility history and human health has long fascinated scholars; however, whether there is a link between number of children and cognitive function in older adults remains unclear. We investigated the associations between parity and the timing of first and last births with the cognitive function of older adults over 65. Methods:The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was selected as a tool to measure cognitive function. We analyzed data on 5847 older adults in rural and urban communities in China from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey using ordinary least squares. To further explore the transmission mechanism, we also conducted a mediating effect analysis.Results: We found a negative association between number of children and cognitive function in older adults. Compared with older adults with four children, the MMSE scores of older adults with more than five children decreased significantly, and the score of older adults with zero to three children increased. Further, a late age at first birth (≥35) and a late age at last birth (≥35) were negatively associated with cognitive function. We also found that the associations between parity and cognition might be partly explained by variations in health. Conclusion:Our analyses provided evidence from China to support the link between fertility history and cognitive function that has been observed in previous international studies: We suggest that high parity (≥5) is negatively associated with cognitive function.

show abstract

Life long endogenous estrogen exposure and later adulthood cognitive function in a population of naturally postmenopausal women from Southern China: The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study

Cited by 71 publications

References 63 publications

Reproductive History and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern China

Reproductive History and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Eastern China

Fertility History and Cognition in Later Life.

Fertility experiences and later‐life cognitive function among older adults in China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About