Summary
Dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease is among the most feared accompaniments of aging. There is a strong biological rationale for the use of estrogen replacement after the menopause to help reduce a woman’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Women with this disorder are less likely to use estrogens than control subjects and, among women with Alzheimer’s disease, those who use estrogen perform better on cognitive tasks than those who do not. The strongest data on Alzheimer’s prevention are based on case-control and cohort studies in which information on estrogen use was collected prospectively, before the onset of dementia symptoms. Studies from the Leisure World retirement community in southern California, New York City, Baltimore, and Rochester, Minnesota, imply that estrogen replacement therapy is associated with Alzheimer’s risk reductions of about one-third to one-half. In several studies, a dose-response relationship has been observed, such that women who have greater estrogen exposures (higher doses or longer durations of therapy) also have lower risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease. An association between Alzheimer’s disease and estrogen has not been discerned in all studies, however. In the future, the role of estrogen will best be determined from results of properly designed randomized, placebo-controlled, primary prevention trials of estrogen.
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Henderson, V.W. (1999). The Epidemiology of Alzheimer’s Disease: The Role of Estrogen in Reducing Risk. In: Mayeux, R., Christen, Y. (eds) Epidemiology of Alzheimer’s Disease: From Gene to Prevention. Research and Perspectives in Alzheimer’s Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60076-0_5
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