Effects of hormone replacement therapy on cognitive performance in elderly women. Estrogen for Alzheimer's disease in women: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Reproductive events modify the effects of estrogen replacement therapy on cognition in healthy postmenopausal women. Hormone therapy in menopausal women with cognitive complaints: a randomized, double-blind trial. Cognitive and neuroendocrine response to transdermal estrogen in postmenopausal women with Alzheimer's disease: results of a placebo-controlled, double-blind, pilot study. High-dose estradiol improves cognition for women with AD: results of a randomized study. The effect of short-term estrogen replacement therapy on cognition: a randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial in postmenopausal women. Effects of combination estrogen plus progestin hormone treatment on cognition and affect.
To determine the effects of 9 months of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on cognitive performance in women aged 75 years and older.
                A 9-month randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled parallel trial. Fifty-two elderly postmenopausal women (age range 75-91 years) without known contraindications to HRT or evidence of dementia or depression were enrolled. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:2 ratio to placebo or conjugated estrogens at 0.625 mg/d plus trimonthly medroxyprogesterone acetate at 5 mg/d for 13 days (HRT). Main outcome measures were change from baseline and rate of change from baseline for the following psychometric tests: Verbal Fluency Test, Weschler Paired Associate Learning and 20 min Delayed Recall, Trailmaking A and B Tests, Cancellation Random Letter and Random Form Tests.
                At baseline, women in the HRT group reported a younger age of onset of menopause and a higher prevalence of hysterectomy, but otherwise did not differ from women in the placebo group. After 9 months of treatment, there were no significant group differences for any of the cognitive performance measures. The lack of an observed group-by-time difference for all cognitive tests remained after controlling for age of onset of menopause, education, and previous hysterectomy.
                Although conclusions are limited by small sample size and the relatively short duration of treatment, results suggest that 9 months of estrogen replacement in combination with trimonthly progestin does not improve cognitive performance in women over 75 years who do not have dementia or depression. AD, the most prevalent cause of dementia, affects twice as many women as men. Therapeutic options are limited, but results of prior studies support the hypothesis that estrogen treatment may improve symptoms of women with this disorder.
                Forty-two women with mild-to-moderate dementia due to AD were enrolled into a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial of unopposed conjugated equine estrogens (1.25 mg/day) for 16 weeks.
                Outcome data were available for 40 women at 4 weeks and 36 women at 16 weeks. At both 4 and 16 weeks, there were no significant differences or statistical trends between treatment groups on the primary outcome measure (the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale), clinician-rated global impression of change, or caregiver-rated functional status. Exploratory analyses of mood and specific aspects of cognitive performance also failed to demonstrate substantial group differences.
                Although conclusions are limited by small sample size and the possibility of a type II error, results suggest that short-term estrogen therapy does not improve symptoms of most women with AD. These findings do not address possible long-term effects of estrogen in AD, possible interactions between estrogen and other treatment modalities, or putative effects of estrogen in preventing or delaying onset of this disorder. The question of whether estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) is beneficial to cognitive functioning in postmenopausal women has become controversial in the past several years. Early studies suggested that ERT improved cognitive functioning and decreased the risk of Alzheimer's disease, but recent studies have failed to find any benefit. However, studies have varied in terms of the age of participants, the estrogen preparation used, whether progesterone is administered concurrently, and the study design. The present study used a randomized, placebo-controlled design and a transdermal estrogen preparation composed of 17-beta estradiol. A neuropsychological battery was administered at baseline and after completion of the 10-week trial, and test scores were grouped into four composite scores using psychometric techniques. Baseline to follow-up change was analyzed using multiple regression techniques. Results indicate that while little overall beneficial effect of estrogen was found, years since menopause was significantly related to change in executive functioning in the estrogen but not the placebo group, such that more recently postmenopausal women demonstrated greater positive change than older women. Body mass index, a gross estimate of circulating estrogen, was significantly positively related to change in attentional and psychomotor processes regardless of treatment group, and to a weaker extent, verbal memory, but only in the estrogen-treated group. These results suggest that reproductive events and levels of endogenous estrogen are related to the clinical response to ERT, but larger studies with longer follow-up periods are needed to determine the strength of these effects. To evaluate the effects of hormone therapy (HT) on cognition and subjective quality of life (QoL) in recently postmenopausal women with cognitive complaints.
                Cognitive Complaints in Early Menopause Trial (COGENT) was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, pilot study of 180 healthy postmenopausal women aged 45 to 55 years, randomly assigned to receive either placebo or conjugated equine estrogen 0.625 mg/medroxyprogesterone acetate 2.5 mg for 4 months. Outcome measures included memory, subjective cognition, QoL, sexuality, and sleep, which were assessed at baseline and month 4.
                The study was terminated before the expected final sample size of 275 due to a decrease in enrollment coinciding with the publication of findings from the Women's Health Initiative. There were no differences between groups on any cognitive or QoL measures, except for an increase in sexual interest and thoughts with HT. Modest negative effects on short- and long-term verbal memory approached significance (p < 0.10). Women with baseline vasomotor symptoms (VMS) showed a decrease in VMS and an improvement in general QoL, but no cognitive benefit vs placebo.
                With the power to detect an effect size of >or=0.45, this study suggests potential modest negative effects on verbal memory that are consistent with previous hormone therapy trials in older women. Preliminary evidence from clinical studies indicates that treatment with estrogen augments cognitive function for women with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The neurobiology of estrogen, particularly its neuromodulatory and neuroprotective actions, provide a viable basis to support such cognition-enhancing effects. We conducted a placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group design pilot clinical study to evaluate the cognitive and neuroendocrine response to estrogen administration for postmenopausal women with AD. Twelve women with probably AD of mild-moderate severity completed the study. During an eight week treatment period, six women received 0.05 mg/day dosage of 17 beta-estradiol via a skin patch and the remaining six wore a placebo skin patch. Subjects were randomized to equal distribution, and evaluated at baseline, at weeks 1, 3, 5, and 8 on treatment, and at weeks 9, 10, 11, and 13 off treatment. On each day of evaluation, cognition was assessed using a battery of neuropsychological tests, and blood samples were collected to measure plasma concentrations of estradiol and estrone. In addition, several neuroendocrine markers were measured in plasma to evaluate the relationship between estrogen-induced cognitive effects and fluctuations in the catecholaminergic and insulin-like growth factor systems. Significant effects of estrogen treatment were observed on attention (i.e. Stroop: number of self-corrections in the Interference condition, F[1,8] = 8.22, P < 0.03) and verbal memory (i.e., Buschke: delayed cued recall, F[3,30] = 4.31, P < 0.02). The salutary effects of estrogen on cognition were observed after the first week of treatment, and started to diminish when treatment was terminated. For women treated with estrogen, enhancement in verbal memory was positively correlated with plasma levels of estradiol (r = 0.96, P < 0.02) and negatively correlated with concentrations of insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) in plasma (r = -0.92, P < 0.03). Furthermore, a trend in the data was evident to suggest a negative relationship between plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and verbal memory (r = -0.86, P = 0.06). Estrogen administration suppressed peripheral markers of the IGF system, as evidenced by a negative correlation between plasma concentration of estradiol and IGF-1 (r = -0.93, P < 0.03), and a trend for a similar relationship between plasma levels of estradiol and IGFBP-3 (r = -0.86, P = 0.06). With respect to the catecholamines assayed, norepinephrine was positively correlated with verbal memory (r = 0.95, P < 0.02) for women who were treated with estrogen. Furthermore, there was a trend to suggest a negative relationship between plasma epinephrine levels and the number of errors committed on a test of attention (r = -0.84, P = 0.07). In the placebo group, no significant effects of estrogen replacement were evident either on measures of cognition or on any of the neuroendocrine markers. The results of this study suggest that estrogen replacement may enhance cognition for postmenopausal women with AD. Furthermore, several markers of neuroendocrine activity may serve to index the magnitude of estrogen-induced facilitation on cognition. In addition, research findings from the present study will provide important information for the design of larger prospective clinical studies that are essential to definitively establish the therapeutic role of estrogen replacement for postmenopausal women with AD. To characterize the cognitive and neuroendocrine response to treatment with a high dose of estrogen for postmenopausal women with AD.
                Twenty postmenopausal women with AD were randomized to receive either 0.10 mg/day of 17 beta-estradiol by skin patch or a placebo patch for 8 weeks. Subjects were evaluated at baseline, at weeks 3, 5, and 8 during treatment, and again 8 weeks after treatment termination. During each visit, cognition was assessed with a battery of neuropsychological tests, and blood samples were collected to measure plasma estradiol as well as several other neuroendocrine markers of interest.
                Significant effects of estrogen treatment were observed on attention (Stroop Color Word Interference Test), verbal memory (Buschke Selective Reminding Test), and visual memory (Figure Copy/Memory). In addition, women treated with estrogen demonstrated improved performance on a test of semantic memory (Boston Naming Test) compared with subjects who received a placebo. Estrogen appeared to have a suppressive effect on the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system such that plasma concentration of IGF binding protein-3 was significantly reduced and plasma levels of estradiol and IGF-I were negatively correlated during estrogen treatment.
                Administration of a higher dose of estrogen may enhance attention and memory for postmenopausal women with AD. Although these findings provide further clinical evidence to support a cognitive benefit of estrogen for women with AD, studies evaluating the effect of estradiol administration, in particular, using larger sample sizes and for longer treatment durations are warranted before the therapeutic potential of estrogen replacement for women with AD can be firmly established. To evaluate the effect of estrogen replacement therapy on cognitive functioning.
                The study consisted of two 3-month treatment periods, one with estrogen and one with the placebo, in random order, separated by a 1-month wash-out period. The study group comprised 70 healthy postmenopausal women, aged 47-65 years, with previous hysterectomy. Sixty-two women completed the study. Cognitive speed and accuracy, attention, and memory were evaluated. Serum estradiol (E2) and FSH levels were controlled at the end of the estrogen, placebo, and wash-out periods.
                Most of the cognitive tests correlated with age: older women were slower and made more errors than younger women. Estrogen replacement therapy was not superior to the placebo in any test of cognitive performance. In two out of ten visual detection tasks, recognition thresholds were longer with estrogen than with the placebo (P < .001 and P = .004). On the most demanding test of working memory, the reaction times (P = .045) and error rates (P = .043) differed between treatments, yet this finding proved to be an effect of learning rather than treatment. There was no correlation between cognitive performance and serum E2 levels.
                Cognitive performance decreased with age. Short-term estrogen replacement therapy did not provide any advantage over the placebo in terms of improving the performance. Some studies of hormone treatment in postmenopausal women suggest benefits on specific cognitive functions, particularly memory.
                The objective of this study was to determine whether hormone therapy influences changes in specific cognitive functions and affect in older women.
                This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
                Participants were women from 14 of 40 clinical centers of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).
                Postmenopausal women (1416) aged 65 yr and older, free of probable dementia, and enrolled in WHI and the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) trial of combination estrogen and progestin for a mean of 3 yr and followed for a mean of 1.35 yr, were studied.
                Intervention was conjugated equine estrogen (CEE; 0.625 mg) with 2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in one daily tablet (CEE + MPA) or placebo.
                Annual rates of change in specific cognitive functions and affect, adjusted for time since randomization, were measured.
                CEE + MPA had a negative impact on verbal memory (P <or= 0.01) and a trend to a positive impact on figural memory (P = 0.012) over time compared with placebo, but other cognitive domains were not affected. Both effects on memory were evident only after long-term therapy. CEE + MPA did not significantly influence positive affect, negative affect, or depressive symptoms.
                The effect of CEE + MPA on cognitive function varies across cognitive domains in older women, reflecting both possible beneficial and detrimental actions of ovarian steroids on the aging brain. Our results extend prior findings about dementia and global cognitive function to age-related changes in specific cognitive functions and suggest directions for future research.
Currently, HRT or ERT for cognitive improvement or maintenance is not indicated for women with AD.