WOMEN PROTECTION AGAINST PRE-MENOPAUSAL
MEMORY LOSS, ALZHEIMER DISEASE
MEMORY
LOSS - Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may protect post-menopausal women against memory loss and Alzheimer''s disease. A study found women''s memories are affected when their bodies stop producing the hormone
oestrogen - as happens at the menopause.
HOMONE - However, London''s Institute of Psychiatry recently found memory recovered when hormone supplies were restored - the effect achieved by HRT. Women have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer''s than men. It is estimated that around 450,000 women in the UK have the disease. There is a theory that oestrogen may help prevent the build-up of damaging protein tangles in the brain which are thought to trigger cell death, and Alzheimer''s. But when supplies of the hormone are abruptly cut at the menopause, women may become more vulnerable.
PRE-MENOPAUSAL - The latest research according to the Institute was carried out on 30 young, pre-menopausal women who were having surgery for benign womb growths called fibroids. The patients were given a drug which shrinks the fibroids, but which also temporarily shuts down the ovaries, producing a state similar to the menopause. Each woman was given a memory test before, during and after treatment, when their
ovaries were once again producing oestrogen.
treatment - Average scores of the 30 young pre-menopausal women were similar before and after treatment, but dipped by about 10% while the women''s ovaries were shut down.
More abstracts about the women protection against pre-menopausal memory loss