Menopausal hormone remedy, used to alleviate menopausal signs like sizzling flushes and evening sweats, is related to an elevated fee of dementia and Alzheimer’s illness, regardless that no causal relationship has been established, a brand new BMJ analysis has mentioned.
The rise, of 24 per cent, was seen in long-term customers of the remedy and likewise in short-term customers of menopausal age of 55 years or youthful, the observational analysis in Danish ladies mentioned.
Menopausal hormone remedy, broadly referred to as hormone substitute remedy, consists of tablets containing oestrogen solely, or a mix of oestrogen and progestogen, in addition to pores and skin patches, gels and lotions.
Researchers from the Danish Dementia Analysis Centre, Copenhagen College Hospital and different Danish institutes, recognized 5,589 ladies having dementia (instances) and 55,890 age matched dementia-free ladies (controls) between 2000 and 2018 from a inhabitants of all Danish ladies aged 50-60 years in 2000, with no historical past of dementia and no underlying purpose stopping them from utilizing menopausal hormone remedy.
The typical age of dementia prognosis was 70 years. Earlier than a prognosis, 1,782 (32 per cent) instances and 16,154 (29 per cent) controls had obtained the hormone remedy from a median age of 53 years.
The typical period of use was 3.8 years for instances and three.6 years for controls.
Elevated charges of dementia have been discovered to be larger with longer use, starting from 21 per cent for one yr to 74 per cent for greater than 12 years of use.
Use of progestin solely remedy and vaginal oestrogen solely weren’t related to the event of dementia, the researchers wrote of their paper.
The researchers additionally mentioned they weren’t capable of distinguish between sorts of dementia developed or distinguish between tablets and different methods to take hormone remedy, equivalent to patches.
Additional, they might not rule out the potential of ladies taking hormone remedy having a predisposition to each menopausal vasomotor signs, like sizzling flushes or evening sweats, and dementia.
Nonetheless, they mentioned, this was a big research primarily based on top quality therapy knowledge with a protracted follow-up period.
As such, they concluded, “Additional research are warranted to find out whether or not these findings signify an precise impact of menopausal hormone remedy on dementia danger, or whether or not they mirror an underlying predisposition in ladies in want of those therapies.”
