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Before You Share That New "HRT Prevents Dementia" Study, Read the Fine Print

Jennifer Gunter · 28 Aug 2026

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Jennifer Gunter did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    The results of the Squires et al. study suggest that MHT is not broadly neuroprotective.

    Their wordsThe results are precisely the pattern that argues AGAINST broad use of MHT to prevent dementia. The women who benefited the most had shorter reproductive years or surgical menopause, which, if the results of the study are true (and we can't know if they are as it is observational...and we will get into all the issues with the UK Biobank and MHT studies shortly), they support the conclusion that MHT is NOT broadly neuroprotective.

  2. Our reading

    Observational studies of MHT can be biased by the healthy-user effect.

    Their wordsOne big reason is that healthier, wealthier women tend to use MHT, which creates a meaningful difference between MHT users and non-users, so we must be careful when attributing any benefit to MHT rather than to the healthy-user effect.

  3. Our reading

    The UK Biobank is not a representative sample of the general U.K. population.

    Their wordsPeople in the UK Biobank are overall healthier than the general U.K. population, so it is not a representative sample of people on or off MHT.

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