Estrogen Can't Cure Alzheimer's
Estrogen Can't Cure Alzheimer's
Feb. 22, 2000 (Atlanta) -- Estrogen treatment doesn't help women who already have Alzheimer's disease, according to results of a yearlong study published in Tuesday's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It makes it look as though once you have a well-established form of the disease -- not terribly early but mild to moderate -- estrogen can have no measurable benefit for women," researcher Ruth A. Mulnard, RN, DNSc, tells WebMD. "Women need to understand that estrogen is not going to help with Alzheimer's disease, but it may be very important for them as individuals, and that is something that should be discussed with their physicians."
The study disappoints researchers who had been encouraged by animal studies and some short-term human trials suggesting that estrogen might improve memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. But in the largest and longest study of using oral estrogen tablets (Premarin) to treat Alzheimer's patients, Mulnard and co-workers found that the treatment did not stop or even slow the disease. The study followed 120 woman who took estrogen in varying doses or a placebo.
"This is a very clear and unequivocal result," Bennett A. Shaywitz, MD, co-author of an editorial accompanying the study, tells WebMD. "In women who already have it, estrogen does not halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease."
Mulnard and Shaywitz each note that the findings apply only to people who already have Alzheimer's disease. They stress that estrogen may be of great help to these patients for other reasons. "If estrogen is indicated for treatment of other conditions, Alzheimer's patients should get it. It is a very, very important drug," says Mulnard, associate director of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California, Irvine.
Shaywitz, co-director of the Yale University Center for the Study of Learning and Attention, notes that the study only applies to women who already have Alzheimer's disease. It does not mean that estrogen cannot prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease -- a question that is the subject of intensive study.
In an interview seeking analysis of the study, estrogen and memory researcher Marilyn Miller of McGill University in Montreal tells WebMD that she is not ready to give up on estrogen as a treatment for at least some of the memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease.
"The important thing is to help people improve their memory function, she says. "At some stage along the line, estrogen improves memory in the normally aging individual. It depends on how much you give, when you give it, and whether the patient has Alzheimer's disease. I haven't thrown the baby out with the wash yet."
Estrogen Can't Cure Alzheimer's
Feb. 22, 2000 (Atlanta) -- Estrogen treatment doesn't help women who already have Alzheimer's disease, according to results of a yearlong study published in Tuesday's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It makes it look as though once you have a well-established form of the disease -- not terribly early but mild to moderate -- estrogen can have no measurable benefit for women," researcher Ruth A. Mulnard, RN, DNSc, tells WebMD. "Women need to understand that estrogen is not going to help with Alzheimer's disease, but it may be very important for them as individuals, and that is something that should be discussed with their physicians."
The study disappoints researchers who had been encouraged by animal studies and some short-term human trials suggesting that estrogen might improve memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. But in the largest and longest study of using oral estrogen tablets (Premarin) to treat Alzheimer's patients, Mulnard and co-workers found that the treatment did not stop or even slow the disease. The study followed 120 woman who took estrogen in varying doses or a placebo.
"This is a very clear and unequivocal result," Bennett A. Shaywitz, MD, co-author of an editorial accompanying the study, tells WebMD. "In women who already have it, estrogen does not halt the progression of Alzheimer's disease."
Mulnard and Shaywitz each note that the findings apply only to people who already have Alzheimer's disease. They stress that estrogen may be of great help to these patients for other reasons. "If estrogen is indicated for treatment of other conditions, Alzheimer's patients should get it. It is a very, very important drug," says Mulnard, associate director of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California, Irvine.
Shaywitz, co-director of the Yale University Center for the Study of Learning and Attention, notes that the study only applies to women who already have Alzheimer's disease. It does not mean that estrogen cannot prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease -- a question that is the subject of intensive study.
In an interview seeking analysis of the study, estrogen and memory researcher Marilyn Miller of McGill University in Montreal tells WebMD that she is not ready to give up on estrogen as a treatment for at least some of the memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease.
"The important thing is to help people improve their memory function, she says. "At some stage along the line, estrogen improves memory in the normally aging individual. It depends on how much you give, when you give it, and whether the patient has Alzheimer's disease. I haven't thrown the baby out with the wash yet."
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