The potential role of estrogen in the prevention of AD, however, requires further research. Several reports from small clinical trials have suggested that ERT may be useful for the treatment of AD in women, but this study was conducted for a longer period and enrolled more women than past studies. On the 7-point CGIC scale, the average score for those participants receiving estrogen was 5.1 and the average score for those receiving placebo was 5.0. The researchers also found no significant difference between those women who received estrogen therapy and those who received a placebo on scores that measured mood, memory, attention, language skills, motor function and activities of daily living. The only scale that showed a significant difference between the estrogen and placebo groups was the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, which associated receiving estrogen with worsening performance.
Women appear to be at higher risk for developing AD, only in part due to increased longevity.
Because women with AD also live longer than men with AD, there are approximately twice as many women as men in the population with this disorder. In an accompanying editorial, Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D., and Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D., from Yale University School of Medicine, explore the questions that Mulnard et al.'s study asks, mainly, whether estrogen given early in or prior to the disease process may prevent or delay its onset, or minimize the severity of the effects of the disease. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals provided the study drug for this investigation. The editorial was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by an award from the Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale University.