Removal of ovaries may cause mental decline later

LONDON: Women who have their ovaries removed are more likely to suffer mental decline in old age, a new study has claimed. The procedure, which triggers a 'surgical menopause', is most often carried out on younger women because of cancer.
It usually accompanies removal of the womb, known as a hysterectomy, the 'Daily Mail' reported. Scientists studied 1,837 women aged between 53 and 100, a third of whom had experienced a surgical menopause.
The women were given tests to measure thinking skills and memory. These showed that having a surgical menopause at an earlier age was associated with faster declines in thinking ability and certain kinds of memory. Long-term memory relating to concepts and ideas and episodic memory of events were both affected.
Lead scientist Dr Riley Bove, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, said the results suggested a potential benefit from hormone replacement therapy.
This is because the hormone oestrogen, produced by the ovaries, is thought to have a protective effect on cognitive function.