ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 1996 TAG: 9611210038
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
The experiment, conducted at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Tacoma, Wash., is the first controlled study of Alzheimer's patients to evaluate the effects of estrogen on the mind-destroying disease. Earlier, noncontrolled studies suggested that the hormone can protect against developing Alzheimer's.
``Women on estrogen had a significantly improved ability to remember things,'' said Dr. Sanjay Asthana, lead author of the new study. Results were presented Wednesday at the national meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Asthana said the study involved 12 women in their 70s, all with clinically diagnosed mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.
All of the women received drug-delivery skin patches, six with estrogen, the others with a placebo preparation. The identities of the women getting estrogen were not disclosed to treating physicians.
``The effect of the estrogen was rapid,'' Asthana said. ``Within a week, there was improvement.''
Throughout the eight-week trial, the women received standard neurological and psychological tests to detect changes.
Asthana said the women on estrogen had memory test scores 2 to 2 1/2 times better than their scores before taking the drug. Attention test scores ``almost doubled,'' he said.
Loss of memory and attention span are two of the cognitive functions most severely affected by Alzheimer's, a disease that affects about 4 million Americans. It progressively destroys the mind, eventually killing the victim. There is no proven cause or cure.
Asthana said in his study, the estrogen effect was dose-related - that is, patients who absorbed more of the hormone from the patches improved the most. The memory and attention improvements gradually faded, he said, after the experiment ended.
A number of studies have shown that estrogen tends to slow the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms, including three that concluded the hormone reduces the risk of the disease by up to 40 percent in post-menopausal women.
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis reported preliminary results last year suggesting that estrogen pills improved the memory of 10 women with Alzheimer's disease.
Asthana said that his study was too small to be conclusive but gives strong support for larger, more extensive tests among Alzheimer's patients.
``This research is very encouraging,'' said Zavern Khachaturian of the Alzheimer's Association and the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute. But he cautioned: ``We cannot yet draw any conclusions from so small a sample. These results must be confirmed in a larger group.''
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