Estrogen Does Not Reduce Risk of Alzheimer's

Results of a study presented in the March, 2001 issue of Archives of Neurology indicate that women taking Estrogen Replacement Therapy (ERT) likely do not reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

The study, performed at the Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, followed 112,481 women under ERT and 108,925 women in the same age group who were not taking estrogen.

59 cases of Alzheimer's were found in each group. Lead researcher Dr. Sudha Seshadri concluded, "our findings indicate that estrogen replacement therapy use in postmenopausal women is not associated with a substantially reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, and highlights the need for restraint in advocating postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy for this purpose."