Hormone replacement was previously thought to have positive effects

Nov 28, 2013 08:39 GMT  ·  By
Estrogen therapies do not do much to improve memory and cognition in menopausal women
   Estrogen therapies do not do much to improve memory and cognition in menopausal women

Investigators from the Stanford University determined in a new study that menopausal women who undergo hormone replacement therapies do not necessarily exhibit improvements in cognition, memory and mental sharpness.

Estrogen-based therapies were previously touted as a way of eliminating the negative effects of menopause on middle-aged women.

Menopause usually produces a wide array of changes in the female body. It can trigger moodiness spells, hot flashes, and fuzzy thinking, and ups the risks of various types of cancers, anxiety, depression and osteoporosis. Doctors used to believe that administering estrogen tempered these effects.

However, the new investigation appears to suggest that this may not be the case, or that the beneficial effects are so reduced that they are no longer statistically relevant. During menopause, estrogen levels in the female body decrease markedly, since the hormone is no longer needed for reproduction.

The study was conducted on a group of 643 otherwise-healthy, post-menopausal women. Researchers conducted a series of tests meant to gage the overall mental sharpness and memory levels in this group.

At the same time, the investigators measured natural hormone levels in all women. They paid special attention to estradiol, a type of estrogen that usually decreases significantly at the onset of menopause.

In a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Stanford group reveals that higher estradiol levels did not seem to correlate with, or affect, cognition, either in menopausal or pre-menopausal women, NPR reports.

“The findings imply that for younger women who are considering hormone therapy, there's no need to rush into it because of the belief that it's going to improve memory,” says the lead researcher on the study, Stanford neurologist Dr. Victor Henderson.

The research group now plans to investigate whether or not higher levels of the hormone progesterone could potentially be associated with better memory and thinking in menopausal women. The hunt for the best option when it comes of hormone replacement therapies continues.