Can Hormone Modifying Therapy Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer Disease, Dementia in Women With Breast Cancer?

A study in JAMA Network Open suggests that hormone modifying therapy (HMT) used with tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor lowers the risk of developing particular age-related neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's disease, reports Oncology Nurse Advisor . The study covered 57,843 women 45 years or older who received a diagnosis of breast cancer over a period from Jan. 1, 2007, to March 31, 2017. A total of 18,126 subjects with a mean age of 76.2 years had undergone HMT, whereas the remaining 39,717 not treated with HMT were 76.8 years old on average. At a mean follow-up of 5.5 years, propensity-score matched analyses revealed the percentages of women with Alzheimer disease were 4.9 percent and 6.0 percent in those receiving HMT and those not, respectively. A similar reduction in the risk of dementia with HMT was seen when the HMT group was compared with the non-HMT cohort. Moreover, those with HMT receiving tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor had significant reductions in risk of Alzheimer's versus those not receiving HMT, whereas those receiving raloxifene did not. The reduced risk for both Alzheimer's and dementia also was greater for those receiving steroidal compared with nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor therapy.