Alzheimer's disease: review of hormone therapy trials and implications for treatment and prevention after menopause.

ABSTRACT: Hormonal changes associated with the menopausal transition and postmenopause have the potential to influence processes linked to Alzheimer's disease symptoms and pathogenesis, but effects of menopause on Alzheimer risk can be addressed only indirectly. Nine randomized clinical trials of estrogen-containing hormone therapy in Alzheimer's disease patients were identified by a systematic literature search. Findings suggest that hormone therapy does not improve cognitive symptoms of women with Alzheimer's disease. No clinical trials of hormone therapy address Alzheimer prevention, but one clinical trial provides moderate evidence that continuous, combined estrogen plus progestogen initiated at age 65 years or older increases the risk of dementia. The timing, or critical window, hypothesis sugg

SUBMITTER: Henderson VW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3830600 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature