Long-Term Hormone Use After Menopause Tied to Alzheimer's Risk

A Finnish study published in The BMJ suggests women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease menopause symptoms may have a slightly greater chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, reports Reuters Health . The researchers examined some 85,000 women diagnosed with Alzheimer's between 1999 and 2013, and about 85,000 controls without this diagnosis. About 30 percent of subjects in both groups took hormones, with most using "systemic" hormones in tablet or pill forms, while fewer took vaginal treatments. In comparison with women who did not use systemic hormones, those who did were 9 percent to 17 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's, while older women who used HRT for more than 10 years had the highest risk. Almost all study participants who had Alzheimer's were diagnosed at age 60 or older, and 56 percent of them were older than 80 when diagnosed. Three out of four women with Alzheimer's who were taking HRT had been on hormones for more than a decade when they were diagnosed. The researchers estimate that HRT is associated with nine to 18 additional cases of Alzheimer's annually in every 10,000 women 70 to 80.