Relationships among cortisol (CRT), dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), and memory in a longitudinal study of healthy elderly men and women

At test times 18 months apart (Time 1 and Time 2), men (n Time 1 = 31, Time 2 = 23), women estrogen-users (n Time 1 = 14, Time 2 = 10), and women estr ogen non-users (n Time 1 = 41, Time 2 = 27), whose average age was 72.1 and 73.4 years at Time 1 and Time 2, respectively, were tested with a battery of neuropsychological tests measuring verbal memory, visual memory, concent ration/attention, language fluency and semantic memory. Plasma levels of CR T and DHEAS were assayed by radioimmunoassay at both test times. The men ha d higher DHEAS levels than both groups of women at both test times (p < 0.0 01) and also had a higher DHEAS/CRT ratio compared to the estrogen non-user s (p < 0.05). Although there were no group differences in CRT levels at eit her time, CRT levels increased in the estrogen non-using women from Time 1 to Time 2 (p < 0.001). Subjects with lower CRT levels performed better than those with higher levels on several tests of declarative memory (p < 0.05) . Men and estrogen-users had higher Digit Span scores compared to female es trogen non-users at both test times (p < 0.01), and women estrogen-users al so had higher Backward Digit Span scores than non-users (p < 0.05). Both gr oups of women performed better than men on Category Retrieval (p < 0.01). T hese findings suggest that higher CRT levels in elderly men and women are a ssociated with poorer explicit memory functioning; however, these results f ailed to provide any evidence that DHEAS is protective against declarative memory decline with aging. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserv ed.