Ovarian hormones: a long overlooked but critical contributor to cognitive brain structures and function

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience research has traditionally overlooked half of the population. Arguing that variability in ovarian hormones confounds empirical findings, girls and women have been excluded from research for decades. But times are changing. This review summarizes historical trends that have led to a knowledge gap in the role of ovarian hormones in neuroscience, synthesizes recent findings on ovarian hormone contributions to cognitive brain structures and function, and highlights areas ripe for future work. This is accomplished by reviewing research that has leveraged natural experiments in humans across the life span that focus on puberty, the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptive use, menopause, and menopausal hormone therapy. Although findings must be considered in light of study designs (e.g., sample characteristics and group comparisons versus randomized crossover trials), across natural experiments there is consistent evidence for associations of estradiol with cortical thickness, especially in frontal regions, and hippocampal volumes, as well as with frontal regions during cognitive processing. There are also emerging investigations of resting state connectivity and progesterone along with exciting opportunities for future work, particularly concerning biopsychosocial moderators of and individual differences in effects in novel natural experiments. Thus, delineating complex ovarian hormone contributions to cognitive brain structures and function will advance neuroscience.

Association of Sex and Age With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury–Related Symptoms: A TRACK-TBI Study

“…25 Although the median age at onset of menopause is 51 years, 12 levels of estrogen and progesterone begin to decline in the premenopausal age range, which begins at 35 to 40 years. 13,14 Whether declining levels of these hormones is contributory to the present findings awaits further investigation.…”

“…Age strata of 18 to 34 years, 35 to 49 years, and older than 50 years were selected based on epidemiologic data suggesting that circulating female sex hormones decline around age 35 years up to the point of menopause (median age, 51 years). [12][13][14] We hypothesized that, if female sex hormones are a primary driver of sex differences in mTBI recovery, then we may observe a monotonic relationship between age and symptoms. However, given prior findings that women in late early or early middle adulthood may be at highest risk of persisting PCS, 5 perhaps owing to psychosocial factors or a combination of psychosocial factors and hormonal changes, we also considered the possibility that women aged 35 to 49 years may demonstrate the most severe symptoms after mTBI.…”

Long-Term Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy and Cognitive Functioning in Older Transgender Women Compared with Cisgender Women and Men

“…[27][28] Furthermore, we investigated the contribution of cardiovascular risk factors and psychological factors on these differences. Based on previous research we hypothesized GHT to be associated with better cognitive performance (i.e., cognitive performance transgender women > cisgender women and men), [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and expected that differences in cognitive functioning would be partly explained by differences in CVR and psychological factors. [18][19][20][21][24][25]…”

“…[3][4][5][6] The neuroprotective effect of estrogens has been observed in cisgender women and men. [7][8][9] Evidence regarding the possible result of these fundamental hormonal effects on cognition in the clinical setting largely stems from studies in cisgender women and men undergoing hormonal therapy or suppression. First, studies investigating cognition in patients that underwent hormonal therapy for prostate cancer found an overall, subtle negative effect of androgen deprivation on cognition (for review see 10 ).…”

Decisiones económicas en los cambios hormonales de la mujer

“…Si bien es cierto que el estudio de las relaciones entre los niveles hormonales y los cambios psicológicos en las mujeres es un tema de larga data en el contexto de la investigación internacional, con estudios acerca de la relación con el desempeño cognitivo (ver Sommer, 1992, para una revisión de la primera etapa de dichos estudios), la regulación emocional y el estado de ánimo (ver Beltz & Moser, 2019, para una revisión) y la relación con el deseo y comportamiento sexual (ver estudios pioneros como el de Davis, 1926), también es de anotar que la investigación acerca de las relaciones entre dichas fluctuaciones hormonales y los comportamientos económicos, como la toma de decisiones económicas y de consumo, son mucho más recientes (Lucas et al, 2007;Haselton et al, 2007).…”