Verified Hormone Therapy Improves Episodic Memory Performance in Healthy Postmenopausal Women |
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| Authors: | Julie E. Yonker Rolf Adolfsson Elias Eriksson Monika Hellstrand Lars-Göran Nilsson Agneta Herlitz |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm, Sweden;2. Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati Julie.Yonker@uc.edu;4. Department of Clinical Science , Ume? University , Ume?, Sweden;5. Department of Pharmacology , G?teborg University , Sweden;6. Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Stockholm, Sweden;7. ARC – Division of Geriatric Epidemiology , Neurotec, Karolinska Institute , Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Studies of hormone therapy (HT) and cognition have yielded conflicting results. The aim of this observational study was to examine the effect of estradiol, via serum verified HT (estradiol, estriol, progesterone) and endogenous estradiol, on 108 healthy postmenopausal women's cognitive performance. The results demonstrated that the 43 HT-users performed at a significantly higher level than non-users on episodic memory tasks and on a verbal fluency task, whereas HT-users and non-users did not differ on tasks assessing semantic memory and spatial visualization. In addition, there was a positive relationship between serum estradiol level and episodic memory performance, indicating that postmenopausal HT is associated with enhanced episodic memory and verbal fluency, independent of age and education. These observational results suggest that HT use may be sufficient to exert small, yet positive effects on female sensitive cognitive tasks. Hormone therapy compliance and formulation is discussed as confounding factors in previous research. |
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