Hormone Substitute Therapy (HRT) could help prevent Alzheimer’s Dementia amongst women liable to developing the disease – in accordance with University of East Anglia research.
The study shows that HRT use is related to higher memory, cognition and bigger brain volumes in later life amongst women carrying the APOE4 gene – the strongest risk factor gene for Alzheimer’s disease.
The research team found that HRT was best when introduced early within the menopause journey during perimenopause.
Prof Anne-Marie Minihane, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and director of the Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging at UEA, led the study in collaboration with Prof Craig Ritchie on the University of Edinburgh.
Prof Minihane said: “We all know that 25 per cent of girls within the UK are carriers of the APOE4 gene and that nearly two thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women.
“Along with living longer, the explanation behind the upper female prevalence is considered related to the results of menopause and the impact of the APOE4 genetic risk factor being greater in women.
“We wanted to seek out out whether HRT could prevent cognitive decline in at-risk APOE4 carriers.”
The research team studied data from 1,178 women participating within the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia initiative – which was arrange to check participants’ brain health over time.
The project spanned 10 countries and tracked participants’ brains from ‘healthy’ to a diagnosis of dementia in some. Participants were included in the event that they were over 50 and dementia-free.
The research team studied their results to analyse the impact of HRT on women carrying the APOE4 genotype.
Dr Rasha Saleh, also from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “We found that HRT use is related to higher memory and bigger brain volumes amongst at-risk APOE4 gene carriers. The associations were particularly evident when HRT was introduced early – in the course of the transition to menopause, referred to as perimenopause.
“This is de facto necessary because there have been very limited drug options for Alzheimer’s disease for 20 years and there may be an urgent need for brand spanking new treatments.
“The consequences of HRT on this remark study, if confirmed in an intervention trial, would equate to a brain age that’s several years younger.”
Prof Minihane said: “Our research checked out associations with cognition and brain volumes using MRI scans. We didn’t take a look at dementia cases, but cognitive performance and lower brain volumes are predictive of future dementia risk.
Prof Michael Hornberger, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: : “It’s too early to say of course that HRT reduces dementia risk in women, but our results highlight the potential importance of HRT and personalised medicine in reducing Alzheimer’s risk.
“The following stage of this research will probably be to perform an intervention trial to verify the impact of starting HRT early on cognition and brain health. It is going to even be necessary to analyse which sorts of HRT are most useful,” he added.
Prof Craig Ritchie, from the University of Edinburgh, said: “This necessary finding from the EPAD Cohort highlights the necessity to challenge many assumptions about early Alzheimer’s disease and its treatment, especially when considering women’s brain health. An effect on each cognition and brain changes on MRI supports the notion that HRT has tangible profit. These initial findings need replication nonetheless in other populations.”
‘Hormone Substitute Therapy is related to improved cognition and bigger brain volumes in in danger APOE4 women: results from the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease (EPAD) cohort’ is published within the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.
Source:
University of East Anglia