• Posted August 29, 2025

Hormone Therapy For Menopause Might Provide Memory Boost

Hormone therapy for menopause might be able to boost memory, a new study says.

What’s more, the specific type of hormone therapy used by a woman during and after menopause can have different effects on her memory, researchers found.

Women using estradiol patches or gels had better test scores for episodic memory — long-term remembrance of past events — compared to those who never used hormone therapy, researchers reported Aug. 27 in the journal Neurology.

But those using estradiol pills had better scores for prospective memory, like remembering to get to an appointment or take a medication on time, researchers said.

“Hormone therapy is often considered to help manage symptoms of menopause but deciding whether to use it — and which type to use — can be a complex and personal decision,” said senior researcher Liisa Galea, a senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada.

“This study highlights that the type of estradiol therapy used may influence cognitive performance differently across various types of memory,” Galea said in a news release. “Understanding these links could help inform more tailored approaches to maintaining brain health after menopause."

Estradiol is a form of estrogen used in hormone therapy for menopause, according to Drugs.com.

For this study, researchers analyzed data on 7,251 postmenopausal Canadian women. The women had an average age of 61 and reached menopause at an average age of 51.

Of the women, about 4% were using estradiol patches, gels or vaginal rings, creams or tablets. And 2% were taking the hormone therapy in pill form, researchers said.

All participants completed tests of different memory and thinking skills, and researchers compared these results to use of hormone therapy.

Women who went through earlier menopause had lower scores on these tests, but hormone therapy appeared to blunt the impact of the transition.

Different types of hormone therapy improved episodic and prospective memory, but results showed that the therapy did not appear to affect executive function — the ability to plan or problem-solve.

“Our findings suggest that the type of estradiol therapy matters, with different forms linked to different types of memory,” Galea said.

These results could explain why human studies have had mixed results when it comes to the benefits of hormone therapy on memory and thinking, even as animal studies consistently find positive effects, researchers said.

Human studies mostly have involved estradiol taken in pills, while animal studies mostly use injected estradiol, which is metabolized much like the hormone in gels and patches.

However, the study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between hormone therapy and memory, only an association, researchers said.

“While we cannot say hormone therapy causes these effects, it adds to the conversation about how best to support brain health after menopause,” Galea said.

More information

The Menopause Society has more on hormone therapy.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology, news release, Aug. 27, 2025

What This Means For You

Women might receive some memory benefits from using hormone therapy during and after menopause.