
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993                   TAG: 9311100037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

ESTROGEN MAY LOWER RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S IN WOMEN

Estrogen therapy may lower a woman's risk of Alzheimer's disease and reduce symptoms in women who develop the illness, two studies suggest.

One study found the risk of Alzheimer's reduced by about 40 percent.

The research is preliminary, and more definitive studies are needed to show whether estrogen really has those effects, said co-author Dr. Victor Henderson.

He also said the findings say nothing about any possible effect of estrogen or any other hormone in men.

Many women take estrogen to treat or prevent symptoms and disorders related to menopause.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder that impairs memory, thinking and behavior. It afflicts an estimated 4 million American adults. No cause or cure is known.

Henderson, a professor of neurology, gerontology and psychology at the University of Southern California, said two earlier, small studies also had concluded that estrogen might reduce Alzheimer symptoms.

A recent hypothesis suggests that estrogen may help preserve normal function within the basal forebrain, where brain cells are depleted in Alzheimer's and some other diseases, he said.

Henderson spoke in a telephone interview before presenting the work Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C.

by CNB