OT: Hormone Replacement Is Linked to Dementia

[Guest guest]

ok, that's for pills, what about natural/organic progesterone cream?

 

Pills are hard on the liver too.

 

http://organicexcellence.com

Kathy

 

 

butch owen [butchbsi]

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 4:10 PM

 

OT: Hormone Replacement Is Linked to Dementia

 

 

Hormone Replacement Is Linked to Dementia

 

By LINDSEY TANNER

 

CHICAGO (AP) - Last summer, hormone replacement therapy was linked to

heart trouble. Now, it's Alzheimer's disease and other forms of

dementia.

 

Yet despite startling new evidence showing hormone pills may cause

ailments they once were thought to help prevent, some women and doctors

say they're still not ready to abandon the menopause treatment.

 

The latest data suggests estrogen-progestin pills double the risk of

dementia in women aged 65 and older, a development that " is very

shocking, " said Dr. Barbara Soltes, a reproductive endocrinologist at

Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.

 

Soltes said many of her patients who continued taking hormones after

last year's bad news on heart troubles did so thinking they were helping

stave off Alzheimer's and other memory problems associated with aging.

 

While many likely now will quit - as millions of women already have -

Soltes said she likely will continue to prescribe the supplements for

relief of change-of-life symptoms.

 

" I'm sure it's not the last word, " Soltes said.

 

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical

Association.

 

Participants who took hormones for an average of more than four years

faced double the risk of developing Alzheimer's or other forms of

dementia, compared with those on dummy pills. That means in one year,

for every 10,000 women taking hormones, 23 more cases of dementia will

develop.

 

Researchers also found that hormones did not protect against less severe

mental decline, such as mild memory loss.

 

The belief that the supplements could help women keep their minds sharp

was based on smaller, less rigorous studies.

 

But this one was part of the government's gold-standard Women's Health

Initiative study, a portion of which was halted last summer after

finding an increased risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes in

women who took one type of combined hormone pill.

 

" It's another nail in the coffin " for the use of hormones during and

after menopause, said gynecologist Dr. Robert Blaskiewicz, a Saint Louis

University professor.

 

Some experts say that based on what is now known about supplements,

women past menopause should not take hormones at all. Others say women

needing relief from night sweats and other menopausal symptoms should

take the lowest possible dose for the shortest time.

 

Cindy Yeast, a 50-year-old Washington-area publicist, says she began

taking supplements two years ago in part to avoid mild dementia that

affects her elderly parents. She said she may not give up on the pills

just yet.

 

" Every time a new study comes out, you can't just react, " Yeast said.

" You have to weigh what is this doing for me now. "

 

It's unknown whether the results apply to women younger than 65, who

make up the bulk of hormone users, said Dr. Victoria Kusiak of Wyeth

Pharmaceuticals, makers of Prempro pills used in the study.

 

The notion that hormone supplements are good for the mind has been

around for at least a decade. Doctors have speculated that the body's

own estrogen protects against cell damage and improves blood flow.

 

One possible explanation for the new findings is that hormone

supplements raise the risk of strokes - and strokes are known to cause

brain damage and contribute to dementia, said the research team led by

Sally Shumaker, a public health professor at Wake Forest University.

 

Nevertheless, the increased risk of dementia is very small, said Marilyn

Albert, head of the Alzheimer's Association's scientific advisory

council and a Johns Hopkins University neurology professor.

 

Age remains the single greatest risk factor for dementia, and the study

suggests that a 65-year woman on estrogen-progestin pills ``would have

the increased risk profile of a 70-year-old woman not taking hormone

replacement therapy,'' Albert said.

 

The results come from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, which

involved 4,532 women who used Prempro for an average of more than four

years. It was funded in part by Wyeth.

 

Probable dementia was diagnosed in 61 women - 40 in the hormone group

and 21 taking placebo pills.

 

Wyeth estimates that 1.2 million women are still taking Prempro pills,

down from about 3.4 million before the WHI study was halted last summer.

Other types of hormone supplements include patches and creams.

 

An arm of the government study involving estrogen-only supplements in

women who have had a hysterectomy is continuing. Estrogen alone is not

recommended for women with intact wombs because it increases the risk of

uterine cancer.

 

On the Net:

 

JAMA: http://jama.ama-ssn.org

 

Women's Health Initiative: http://www.whi.org

 

05/28/03 06:24

 

© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information

contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or

otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The

Associated Press.

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hormone Replacement Is Linked to Dementia

 

By LINDSEY TANNER

 

CHICAGO (AP) - Last summer, hormone replacement therapy was linked to

heart trouble. Now, it's Alzheimer's disease and other forms of

dementia.

 

Yet despite startling new evidence showing hormone pills may cause

ailments they once were thought to help prevent, some women and doctors

say they're still not ready to abandon the menopause treatment.

 

The latest data suggests estrogen-progestin pills double the risk of

dementia in women aged 65 and older, a development that " is very

shocking, " said Dr. Barbara Soltes, a reproductive endocrinologist at

Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center.

 

Soltes said many of her patients who continued taking hormones after

last year's bad news on heart troubles did so thinking they were helping

stave off Alzheimer's and other memory problems associated with aging.

 

While many likely now will quit - as millions of women already have -

Soltes said she likely will continue to prescribe the supplements for

relief of change-of-life symptoms.

 

" I'm sure it's not the last word, " Soltes said.

 

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical

Association.

 

Participants who took hormones for an average of more than four years

faced double the risk of developing Alzheimer's or other forms of

dementia, compared with those on dummy pills. That means in one year,

for every 10,000 women taking hormones, 23 more cases of dementia will

develop.

 

Researchers also found that hormones did not protect against less severe

mental decline, such as mild memory loss.

 

The belief that the supplements could help women keep their minds sharp

was based on smaller, less rigorous studies.

 

But this one was part of the government's gold-standard Women's Health

Initiative study, a portion of which was halted last summer after

finding an increased risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes in

women who took one type of combined hormone pill.

 

" It's another nail in the coffin " for the use of hormones during and

after menopause, said gynecologist Dr. Robert Blaskiewicz, a Saint Louis

University professor.

 

Some experts say that based on what is now known about supplements,

women past menopause should not take hormones at all. Others say women

needing relief from night sweats and other menopausal symptoms should

take the lowest possible dose for the shortest time.

 

Cindy Yeast, a 50-year-old Washington-area publicist, says she began

taking supplements two years ago in part to avoid mild dementia that

affects her elderly parents. She said she may not give up on the pills

just yet.

 

" Every time a new study comes out, you can't just react, " Yeast said.

" You have to weigh what is this doing for me now. "

 

It's unknown whether the results apply to women younger than 65, who

make up the bulk of hormone users, said Dr. Victoria Kusiak of Wyeth

Pharmaceuticals, makers of Prempro pills used in the study.

 

The notion that hormone supplements are good for the mind has been

around for at least a decade. Doctors have speculated that the body's

own estrogen protects against cell damage and improves blood flow.

 

One possible explanation for the new findings is that hormone

supplements raise the risk of strokes - and strokes are known to cause

brain damage and contribute to dementia, said the research team led by

Sally Shumaker, a public health professor at Wake Forest University.

 

Nevertheless, the increased risk of dementia is very small, said Marilyn

Albert, head of the Alzheimer's Association's scientific advisory

council and a Johns Hopkins University neurology professor.

 

Age remains the single greatest risk factor for dementia, and the study

suggests that a 65-year woman on estrogen-progestin pills ``would have

the increased risk profile of a 70-year-old woman not taking hormone

replacement therapy,'' Albert said.

 

The results come from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, which

involved 4,532 women who used Prempro for an average of more than four

years. It was funded in part by Wyeth.

 

Probable dementia was diagnosed in 61 women - 40 in the hormone group

and 21 taking placebo pills.

 

Wyeth estimates that 1.2 million women are still taking Prempro pills,

down from about 3.4 million before the WHI study was halted last summer.

Other types of hormone supplements include patches and creams.

 

An arm of the government study involving estrogen-only supplements in

women who have had a hysterectomy is continuing. Estrogen alone is not

recommended for women with intact wombs because it increases the risk of

uterine cancer.

 

On the Net:

 

JAMA: http://jama.ama-ssn.org

 

Women's Health Initiative: http://www.whi.org

 

05/28/03 06:24

 

© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information

contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or

otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The

Associated Press.