Estrogen Patch May Improve Memory For Women With AD.(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Here's another round in the ongoing debate over whether estrogen can help with the symptoms of Alzheimer disease: a new study shows that an estrogen skin patch given to women with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease can improve their memory and attention skills.

Either the estrogen patch or a placebo patch was given to 20 women for eight weeks for the study, which was published in the August 28, 2001, issue of Neurology.

"These results are hopeful, but they need to be confirmed with larger studies with more participants and longer treatment times," said study author Sanjay Asthana, MD, who conducted the study while at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Tacoma, Washington, and is now at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine in Madison.

Previously, a small body of research suggested that estrogen may help relieve memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer. But then several large studies showed estrogen has no effect on brain functioning in Alzheimer patients.

Asthana noted differences between the current study and those that found no memory-enhancing effect. His study used estradiol, a type of estrogen that has been shown to have an effect on the brain. Other studies used a compound that contains low doses of estradiol along with other forms of estrogen that have not been proven to have an effect on the brain, he said. Also, the largest study finding no effect included only women who had hysterectomies. "We don't know enough yet about how a hysterectomy versus ...