Hormone therapy may boost working memory in women

New York, Nov 5: Undergoing a type of hormone replacement therapy -- used for menopausal treatment -- may help protect as well as improve working memory for some women as they age, according to a new study.Hormone replacement therapy uses female hormones -- estrogen and progesterone -- to treat common symptoms of menopause and aging.The findings showed that women taking estrogen-only therapy had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and performed better on tests of "working memory" following exposure to stress compared to women taking a placebo."Our study suggests that estrogen treatment after menopause protects the memory that is needed for short-term cognitive tasks from the effects of stress," said lead author Alexandra Ycaza Herrera, a researcher at the University of Southern California - Davis.To measure the effect of oestrogen therapy on working memory under stress, the team recruited 42 women with an average age of 66.Half of the postmenopausal women had been on estradiol -- a type of estrogen therapy -- for approximately five years, while the others had received a placebo.The researchers, in the paper published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, collected saliva to measure the women s levels of cortisol, oestrogen, and progesterone.They also ran a test of working memory called a "sentence span task", in which the women were each given a series and then asked whether each sentence made sense. They also were asked to recall the last word of each one.While women receiving estrogen therapy had a smaller increase in cortisol and showed no decrease in working memory function, even after being exposed to the stressful situation, those taking the placebo experienced a spike in cortisol levels as well as demonstrated a decrease in working memory function.Previous studies have pointed to potential health risks -- A higher risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots -- of the treatment.Thus, Herrera noted that "hormone replacement therapy may not be right for every woman, but women need to be able to have the conversation with their doctors".