Hormone therapy in menopausal women with cognitive complaints

Abstract

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.

Hormone levels and cognitive function in postmenopausal midlife women

“…Some observational studies support a positive association between use of estrogen-containing hormone therapy and cognitive function in healthy women, but the results of randomized controlled trials have failed to show clear evidence of benefit (Henderson and Sherwin, 2007;Lethaby et al, 2008), and there is even some suggestion of mild detriment (Espeland et al, 2004;Maki et al, 2007). While this topic remains one of ongoing debate, the basic question of whether endogenous serum levels of these hormones influence cognitive performance remains uncertain.…”

Postmenopausale Hormontherapie und Kognition

“…Auch die Dauer der Exposition ist kürzer als in den o. g. Studien. In der Studie von Maki et al [5] litten die Probandinnen an mindestens einer subjektiven kognitiven Beschwerde. Neben Abweichungen der Gedächtnisleistung und der Aufmerksamkeit von den Basiswerten wurde auch die Symptomverbesserung der subjektiven kognitiven Beschwerden erfasst.…”

“…Ein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen den beiden Studienarmen ließ sich nicht ermitteln. Allerdings zeigte sich in der HT-Gruppe (CEE plus MPA) ein geringer negativer Effekt auf das verbale Gedächtnis: In den CaliforniaVerbal-Learning-Untertests "Short-delay" und "Long-delay Free Recall" kam es in der HT-Gruppe zu Leistungseinbußen [5]. Weil aber die notwendige Probandenzahl nicht erreicht wurde, hat die Studie nicht genügend Aussagekraft, um etwaige Gruppenunterschiede eindeutig zu detektieren.…”

Estrogen and progestogen therapy in postmenopausal women

“…The estimated risk of hormone users having a poor score on the test of verbal fluency was 30% lower (RR ¼ 0.70; 95% CI, 0.45-1.09); results were similar for ET and E/PT. In a trial involving 180 healthy postmenopausal women aged 45 to 55 years who were randomly assigned to receive E/PT or placebo for an interval of 4 months, modest adverse effects on short-term and longterm verbal memory were observed (P<.10) (34,35).…”