Endogenous sex hormones and cognitive function in older women

Alain K Koyama; Shelley S Tworoger; A Heather Eliassen; Olivia I Okereke; Marc G Weisskopf; Bernard Rosner; Kristine Yaffe; Francine Grodstein

doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2015.12.010

Endogenous sex hormones and cognitive function in older women

Alzheimers Dement. 2016 Jul;12(7):758-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2015.12.010. Epub 2016 Jan 21.

Authors

Alain K Koyama¹, Shelley S Tworoger², A Heather Eliassen², Olivia I Okereke², Marc G Weisskopf³, Bernard Rosner⁴, Kristine Yaffe⁵, Francine Grodstein²

Affiliations

¹ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: akoyama@post.harvard.edu.
² Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: We examined the association between endogenous sex hormones and both objective and subjective measures of cognitive function.

Methods: We followed 3044 women up to 23 years in a prospective cohort study. We measured plasma levels of estrone, estrone sulfate, estradiol, androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) in 1989-1990, conducted neuropsychologic testing in 1999-2008, and inquired about subjective cognition in 2012.

Results: Overall, we observed little relation between plasma levels of hormones and either neuropsychologic test performance or subjective cognition. However, after adjustment for age and education, we observed a borderline significant association of higher levels of plasma estrone with higher scores for both overall cognition (P trend = .10) and verbal memory (P trend = .08).

Discussion: There were no clear associations of endogenous hormone levels at midlife and cognition in later life, although a suggested finding of higher levels of plasma estrone associated with better cognitive function merits further research.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Cognition; Dementia; Hormones; Subjective cognitive complaints.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Cognition / physiology*
Female
Gonadal Steroid Hormones / blood*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Memory / physiology
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Prospective Studies

Substances

Gonadal Steroid Hormones

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding