Early menopause is associated with reduced global brain activity

Menopause affects the aging process in women through significant ovarian hormone production decline in midlife. Women who experience early menopause face an accelerated physiological aging rate, along with impaired memory and increased risks of neurodegenerative diseases. However, it remains elusive how the timing of menopause affects brain activity, which could be crucial for understanding menopause-related acceleration of aging and increased risk of dementia. Recent studies have revealed a highly structured infra-slow (< 0.1 Hz) global brain activity across species and linked it to arousal and memory functions, as well as waste clearance in Alzheimer’s diseases (AD). In this study, we examined how this global brain activity relates to age of menopause using resting-state fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project-Aging dataset. We found that women who experienced earlier menopause (mean menopausal age 45±3.5 yr) exhibited weaker global brain activity (p = 5.0×10^-4) with reduced coupling to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow (p = 0.017) compared to age-matched later-menopausal women (mean menopausal age 54±1.2 yr). Differences appeared mainly in higher-order brain regions, where activation levels correlated with memory performance in earlier but not in intermediate or later menopausal women. These findings highlight brain activity changes linked to early menopause, suggesting a potential mechanism underlying memory decline and the increased risk of AD and dementias in early-onset menopausal women.