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[this is - i hope - a cleaned up version of the message sent this=20 morning - no 'drivel' this time - fingers crossed!!] hi all, the news hound is back, although a bit late. and somewhere along the=20 way, she lost the caps key again. i just struggled through an almost 'lost' weekend due to the dreaded=20 female/hormone/pd 'freeze-ups'. [i.e. when sinemet mysteriously=20 transforms itself into baby aspirin]=20 and then the recent messages about female hormones have started me=20 digging through the paterson/parkinsn archives for related posts. i've=20 got some going back to dec. 94.=20 i thought i'd post a 'summary thread' of them, since we have so many=20 new members. maybe someone out there will make a connection that will=20 lead to ...? whaddya'll think? about the 'summary thread', i mean? if it's not=20 too long? janet ps i thought these two news reports on the same subject were revealing in=20 their differences. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Post-menopausal estrogen is said to counter Alzheimer's ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright =A9 1996 Nando.net Copyright =A9 1996 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK (Aug 16, 1996 2:17 p.m. EDT) -- Taking estrogen after=20 menopause may reduce a woman's risk of developing Alzheimer's or delay=20 onset of the disease, scientists said Thursday. In a study of 1,124 elderly women being published Saturday in The=20 Lancet, a British medical journal, and announced at a news conference=20 at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan, researchers=20 found that only 5.8 percent of women who had taken estrogen developed=20 Alzheimer's, compared with 16.3 percent of women who had not used the=20 hormone. With each passing year of the five-year study, only 2.7 percent of the=20 women who had used estrogen developed Alzheimer's as against 8.4=20 percent of those who had not used it. Moreover, the longer the women=20 took estrogen, the lower their risk. Black, White and Hispanic women benefited equally from estrogen, as=20 did women with varying educational and socioeconomic levels. The findings are potentially the most promising advance ever made=20 toward the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, said Dr. Neil Buckholtz=20 of the National Institute on Aging, in Bethesda, Md. "This is the=20 third study that's shown the same kind of effect," he said, adding=20 that it is also the best to date. Dr. Zaven Khachaturian, director of the Reagan Research Institute at=20 the Alzheimer's Association, in Chicago, said, "This study opens new=20 vistas." Researchers are not sure how estrogen might protect against=20 Alzheimer's, but studies have suggested that it helps support the=20 growth, survival and repair of nerve cells, and that it can protect=20 them from being injured by toxic substances. The research might point the way towards other compounds that could=20 delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease in men as well as women, he said. "But we can't recommend that women take estrogen based on this study,"=20 Buckholtz said. "Women are going to consider that, but the most=20 reasonable thing to do, with their physicians, is to look at their own=20 risks for Alzheimer's and a variety of other illnesses. Estrogen does seem to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but=20 it may increase the risk of breast cancer. Each woman has to factor=20 those into the risk-benefit decision she's going to make." Buckholtz and the scientists who conducted the study urged that=20 further research be undertaken quickly to see if the findings could be=20 verified. In the study, a team of researchers led by Dr. Richard Mayeux, a=20 professor of neurology, psychiatry and public health at Columbia,=20 interviewed the women and asked whether they had ever taken estrogen=20 after menopause. Then, the researchers tracked the women's health over=20 the next five years and recorded how many developed Alzheimer's. The study showed a strong association between estrogen use and a=20 lowered risk of Alzheimer's, but did not provide information about the=20 most beneficial doses, how long it should be taken or the best=20 formulation of estrogen. In addition, because the researchers relied=20 solely on the women's own memories of whether they had used estrogen,=20 sometimes many years in the past, the figures may not be as reliable=20 as those gathered in an experiment in which patients are tracked from=20 the moment they begin taking a medication. Mayheux and his colleagues hope to answer those questions in a=20 controlled clinical trial, in which volunteer patients are assigned at=20 random to groups that take either a known dose of estrogen or a=20 placebo, a dummy drug. "The clinical trial is the gold standard,"=20 Mayheux said. A study involving 1,500 to 2,000 women in their 70s=20 could probably provide the needed information within five or six=20 years, he said. Considering the known benefits of estrogen, he said, giving women=20 placebos instead of the hormone raises ethical questions. "But=20 scientifically," he said, "it's the best thing to do, and I think=20 there are still enough lingering doubts about safety that it's=20 probably worthwhile to do it." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Estrogen Therapy May Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease ---------------------------------------------------------------- WESTPORT, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Results of a study published in the=20 current issue of The Lancet suggest that estrogen therapy, when used=20 by postmenopausal women for at least ten years, can reduce the risk of=20 Alzheimer's disease by 30% to 40%. Dr. Richard Mayeux of Columbia University and colleagues at other New=20 York sites followed 1,124 elderly women for 1 to 5 years. The group=20 studied was initially free of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease=20 and stroke. Overall, the New York team observed that 15% of the women developed=20 Alzheimer's disease, which is "...expected in a group of women of this=20 age."=20 When Dr. Mayeux evaluated only the cohort of women who took estrogen=20 therapy for at least 10 years after menopause, he observed that "...a=20 history of oestrogen use during the postmenopausal period=20 significantly delay[ed] the onset of Alzheimer's disease and lower[ed]=20 the risk of disease."=20 In a related editorial, Drs. Alistair Burns and Declan Murphy of=20 Manchester and London, UK, respectively, reported that "...sex=20 steroids modify development and ageing..." in regions of the brain=20 that deteriorate in Alzheimer's. In addition, they point out that=20 "...oestrogen is an important co-factor in the actions of nerve growth=20 factors." These actions, they suggested, may underlie the mechanism of=20 protection against Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Mayeux calls for a prospective clinical trial that would involve=20 perimenopausal women.=20 Lancet 1996;348:429-432. Copyright =A9 1996 Reuters Limited. ------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]