POSTMENOPAUSAL ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT THERAPY AND THE RISK OF ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - A POPULATION-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Preliminary animal and human data suggest that estrogens may be protec tive against Alzheimer's disease in women. In a population-based case- control study at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Seattle, Was hington, the authors compared the exposure of estrogen replacement the rapy of 107 female Alzheimer's disease cases with 120 age- and sex-mat ched controls by using computerized pharmacy data. The cases were obta ined from the Alzheimer's Disease Patient Registry of the University o f Washington, Seattle, Washington, which is based on the enumerated he alth plan population from 1987 to 1992. Newly recognized cases of prob able Alzheimer's disease according to standardized diagnostic criteria were ascertained, evaluated, and enrolled in the Registry. The contro ls were selected from the same defined population by stratified random sampling. When the authors applied logistic regression, ever use of e strogens did not show an association with Alzheimer's disease (adjuste d odds ratio = 1.1, 95 percent confidence interval 0.6-1.8). Oral and vaginal estrogens yielded similar results. In conclusion, this study p rovides no evidence that estrogen replacement therapy has an impact on the risk of Alzheimer's disease in women.