Evaluation of: Rocca WA, Bower JH, Maraganore
DM et al.: Increased risk of
cognitive impairment or
dementia in women who underwent
oophorectomy before menopause. Neurology 69(11), 1074-1083 (2007). This study examines the incidence of
dementia in a population of women who underwent unilateral or bilateral
oophorectomy before menopause. Patients were drawn from the Mayo Clinic database and included women who had surgical removal of either one or both ovaries during a preceding 40-year period (1950-1987), as well as a reference group of women who did not undergo
oophorectomy. Women who agreed to participate in the study were interviewed by phone and received a modified Telephone Interview for Cognition or a brief
dementia questionnaire answered by a proxy if the subject was deceased or incapacitated. Women who had unilateral
oophorectomy had a greater incidence of
dementia as compared with surgical controls. In women with bilateral
oophorectomies, the risk for
dementia was increased in women who were younger at the time of surgery as well as in women who discontinued
estrogen therapy before 50 years of age.