The study reveals that HRT use is associated with better memory, cognition and larger brain volumes in later life among women carrying the strongest risk factor gene for Alzheimer’s disease – the APOE4 gene. HRT was found to be most effective when introduced early in the menopause journey.
The research team used data from 1178 women participating in the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease initiative – which was set up to study participants’ brain health over time. The project spanned 10 countries and tracked participants’ brains from ‘healthy’ to a diagnosis of dementia in some.
One of the authors pointed out that while their research looked at associations with cognition and brain volumes using MRI scans, they did not look at dementia cases, but cognitive performance and lower brain volumes are predictive of future dementia risk.
Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy bit.ly/ART_Alzheimers_HRT
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