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By Nic Rowan
MELBOURNE, Australia, Mar 13 (Reuters Health) - Using estrogen patches in addition to traditional medication may help women with schizophrenia, according to Australian researchers. In a new study, combining an estrogen patch with antipsychotic medications seemed to be more effective at controlling symptoms than using antipsychotic medication alone, according to lead researcher Professor Jayashri Kulkarni.
The findings make sense because "women are older than men at first episode of schizophrenia, and (tend to) relapse during menopause and in the post partum period," Kulkarni told Reuters Health. "This suggests that where estrogen levels drop or are very low, women are more vulnerable."
Schizophrenia is the most common form of severe mental illness. It affects about 1% of the population, usually begins in the late teens and early 20s and is characterized by hallucinations, delusions and hearing voices. It is more common in men than women.
Kulkarni and colleagues at Monash University gave 12 women with schizophrenia a 100-microgram estrogen patch and another 12 women a 50-microgram patch. A third group of 12 women were given an inactive placebo patch. During the 28-day study, the women also received standard antipsychotic medication.
The researchers rated the women's hallucinations, delusions and other symptoms every three days.
Kulkarni noted that "the women's improvement began at about day four or day five. At the end of 28 days the results were quite striking. The women who received the 100 microgram transdermal patch as well as antipsychotic drugs were significantly better. The results were dramatic."
The findings suggest that women with schizophrenia that are headed for menopause may be candidates for hormone replacement therapy, said Kulkarni.
"This may prevent relapse," she said.
Estrogen may also be beneficial to women who have made some improvement on antipsychotic medication but have reached a plateau in terms of recovery, she said.
The professor stressed that "we advocate that if people are going to use estrogen in clinical treatment they should do it with the normal health checks such as pap smears, and blood pressure checks. We would advise caution where there is a strong family history of breast cancer."
Further work has been funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. As well as continuing trials with a larger group of women, low dose estrogen will be tested on schizophrenic men.
The study will be published in Schizophrenia Research this month.
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