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NEW YORK, Mar 26 (Reuters Health) - Women taking estrogen replacement therapy are not likely to cut their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to results of a new study.
Alzheimer's disease, a degenerative brain condition that leads to dementia and eventual death, affects about 15% of older women. While estrogen replacement therapy--which many women take after menopause--is known to protect against heart disease and osteoporosis, evidence for its effect on Alzheimer's disease risk has been equivocal.
Dr. Sudha Seshadri of Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts and colleagues followed 112,481 women who had received at least one prescription for estrogen and 108,925 similarly aged women who had not used estrogen therapy.
The researchers report their findings in the March issue of Archives of Neurology.
The investigators found 59 cases of Alzheimer's disease in both groups. They found no correlation between whether a woman took estrogen and her Alzheimer's disease risk, even among women who had taken the hormone for 5 years or longer.
"Our findings indicate that estrogen replacement therapy use in postmenopausal women is not associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, and highlights the need for restraint in advocating postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy for this purpose," Seshadri and colleagues conclude.
SOURCE: Archives of Neurology 2001;58:435-440
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