Category: Cognitive Decline
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Women taking GnRH agonists for endometriosis experienced memory problems during treatment.
A study1 of women taking GnRH agonists (a/k/a “puberty blockers”) to treat endometriosis found that 31% had “mild” memory problems, 25% had “moderate” problems, and 19% had “marked” problems. Problems were mainly with prospective and short-term memory.
- Christopher Newton, Dianne Slota, Albert A. Yuzpe, Ian S. Tummon, Memory complaints associated with the use of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists: a preliminary study, Fertility and Sterility, Volume 65, Issue 6, 1996. ISSN 0015-0282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0015-0282(16)58351-4. ↩︎
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The IQ of girls given puberty blockers for precocious puberty fell by eight points.
A study1 of 15 girls treated with puberty blockers for central precocious puberty showed that IQ fell by around eight points. The average fell from 102 (55th percentile) to 94 (34th percentile). Two patients were held back a year at school.
In another study2 of 30 children experiencing early puberty and treated with puberty blockers, IQ fell by around seven points.
- Wojniusz S, Callens N, Sütterlin S, Andersson S, De Schepper J, Gies I, Vanbesien J, De Waele K, Van Aken S, Craen M, Vögele C, Cools M, Haraldsen IR. Cognitive, Emotional, and Psychosocial Functioning of Girls Treated with Pharmacological Puberty Blockage for Idiopathic Central Precocious Puberty. Frontiers in Psychology. 2016 Jul 12;7:1053. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01053. PMID: 27462292; PMCID: PMC4940404. ↩︎
- Mul D, Versluis-den Bieman HJ, Slijper FM, Oostdijk W, Waelkens JJ, Drop SL. Psychological assessments before and after treatment of early puberty in adopted children. Acta Paediatrica. 2001 Sep;90(9):965-71. doi: 10.1080/080352501316978011. PMID: 11683207. ↩︎
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IQ fell in a male patient whose puberty was blocked due to gender distress.
A case study1 of a male patient whose puberty was blocked at age 11 showed a decline in several measurements of intelligence over the following three years, including decline of 10 points in global IQ and 15 points in verbal comprehension.
Verbal comprehension showed a continuous decline. Other measurements showed some improvement after an initial decline, but never recovered to baseline levels. Processing speed index scores initially improved, but then fell below baseline.
- Schneider MA, Spritzer PM, Soll BMB, Fontanari AMV, Carneiro M, Tovar-Moll F, Costa AB, da Silva DC, Schwarz K, Anes M, Tramontina S, Lobato MIR. Brain Maturation, Cognition and Voice Pattern in a Gender Dysphoria Case under Pubertal Suppression. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2017 Nov 14;11:528. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00528. PMID: 29184488; PMCID: PMC5694455. ↩︎
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Animal studies suggest puberty blockers may impair brain development, sometimes irrevocably.
A review1 of studies of the effect of puberty blockers on animals (sheep, mice, macaque monkeys) suggests that brain development and neurological functioning may be compromised by the treatment. In some cases, hormone replacement (i.e. testosterone replacement in male sheep given GnRH agonists) did not mitigate or undo the observed changes. A variety of sex-specific effects were also observed.
- Baxendale S. The impact of suppressing puberty on neuropsychological function: a review. Acta Paediatrica. 2024; 113(6): 1156-1167. doi:10.1111/apa.17150 ↩︎
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Puberty blockers potentially have a negative impact on neuropsychological functioning
A 2024 review by Sallie Baxendale1 extensively examined the neuropsychological impacts of puberty blockers. The review indicated that animal studies showed a non-reversible negative impact on cognitive and behavioral functions. In human studies, the evidence suggested detrimental effects on IQ among those treated with puberty blockers for precocious puberty. Specifically, one study documented an average decrease in full-scale IQ of 7 points, including a case where an individual’s IQ fell by 15 points from 138 to 123 after treatment. Another case study involving a gender dysphoric young person reported a drop of 9 points in global (overall) IQ and 15 points in working memory during the course of treatment with puberty blockers.
- Baxendale, S. (2024). The impact of suppressing puberty on neuropsychological function: A review. Acta Paediatrica, 113(7), 1156-1167. [Link] ↩︎
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Long term use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (synthetic testosterone) is associated with brain ageing and a decline in cognitive processing
One study suggests that long-term use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) may cause accelerated brain ageing in certain regions, which could lead to cognitive abnormalities.
A 2021 study by Bjørnebekk et al1. aimed to investigate the effects of long-term anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use on brain ageing. The study included 229 male participants, 130 of whom were long-term AAS users and 99 were non-users. The participants underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to assess brain ageing. The results showed that long-term AAS use is associated with accentuated brain ageing in certain regions, particularly the frontal and cingulate regions. The study highlights the need for further research on the long-term effects of AAS use on brain health and cognition.
- Bjørnebekk, A., Kaufmann, T., Hauger, L. E., Klonteig, S., Hullstein, I. R., & Westlye, L. T. (2021). Long-term anabolic–androgenic steroid use is associated with deviant brain ageing. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 6(5), 579-589. [Link] ↩︎