Estrogen Replacement Therapy Does Not Appear to Reduce Risk of Alzheimer's

Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) in post-menopausal women does not appear to substantially reduce risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers from Boston University School of Medicine.

"Our findings indicate that ERT use in post-menopausal women is not associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease and highlight the need for restraint in advocating post-menopausal ERT for this purpose," the researchers said in a report published in Archives of Neurology.

Over 112,000 women who received ERT and almost 109,000 who did not receive ERT participating in the Framingham Heart Study were assessed to determine if ERT is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's.

Twenty-five percent of the women with newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease were ERT users. A total of 24 percent of the controls used ERT. The ratios were the same for those who took estrogen alone and those who used a combination therapy of estrogen-progestin, said the researchers.

Other sources: Archives of Neurology