Hormonal therapy will help women avoid Alzheimer's disease
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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A new study by American scientists shows that the use of hormone replacement therapy can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in women.
Those women who start this course no later than five years after the onset of menopause can significantly reduce this risk.
The results of research team of scientists, led by Peter Zandi, a doctor of neurology from Baltimore University John Hopkins, are set out in the pages of the journal "Neurology".
"This issue caused controversy and debate. All because some studies have shown positive results with the use of hormone therapy, and its influence on reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and other experiments have shown the opposite effect. We decided that there is probably a so-called critical window, during which hormone therapy can be useful, "says study leader Peter Zandi. "However, there is a danger that hormone therapy, which started later than the stated time, may lead to opposite results and vice versa, increase the risk of developing this disease."
The specialists carried out a large-scale, long-term study, in which eleven years of observation there were 1,768 women aged 65 years and over. Participants in the experiment provided experts with information about the onset of menopause and about the hormonal drugs that they used. Hormonal drugs used a total of 1 105 women. Basically, the composition of the drugs included either estrogen or a combination of progestin and estrogen. The remaining 668 women did not take medicine.
During the study period, dementia as a result of developing Alzheimer's disease was detected in 176 women, including 89 from the control group and 87 from the group taking hormones.
Specialists found that the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in those who started hormone replacement therapy within the first five years after the onset of menopause decreased by 30%. The authors of the work summarize that it is very important to observe the time frame of therapy, so as not to harm the body.
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