No Long-Term Cognitive Effects Seen for Menopausal Hormone Therapy
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Nov. 22, 2024 -- Menopausal hormone therapy (mHT) is not associated with long-term cognitive effects versus placebo, according to a study published online Nov. 21 in PLOS Medicine.
Carey E. Gleason, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and colleagues examined the long-term effects of mHT initiated in early menopause in participants enrolled in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS)-Cog trial and its parent study (KEEPS), in which women were randomly assigned to transdermal estradiol, oral conjugated equine estrogens, or placebo during early menopause. The KEEPS Continuation observational longitudinal cohort study involved recontacting KEEPS participants about 10 years after completion of the four-year clinical trial. For 275 participants, cognitive data from both KEEPS and KEEPS Continuation were available.
The researchers observed significant associations between intercepts and slopes for cognitive performance across almost all domains in latent growth models, indicating a change in cognitive factor scores over time. Tests examining the effects of mHT allocation on cognitive slopes were statistically nonsignificant during KEEPS and across all years of follow-up. No long-term cognitive effects of mHT were seen in the KEEPS Continuation study, with baseline cognition and changes during KEEPS being the strongest predictors of later performance. About 10 years after completion of the randomized treatments, participants assigned to mHT in KEEPS performed similarly on cognitive measures to those assigned to placebo.
"The KEEPS Continuation findings extend our understanding of the cognitive effects of mHT beyond short-term effects; specifically, use of hormone therapy within the time frame of early menopause appears to have no long-term cognitive effects," the authors write.
Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted November 2024
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