27/01/2025
Groundbreaking research quietly slipped under the radar last November... While headlines often trumpet the benefits of HRT, a fascinating study just tackled one of the most persistent inferences – that HRT helps protect women's cognitive function. Yet despite its significance, this research barely made a ripple in the media landscape.
The study, which followed women for a decade, challenges what many women have been led to believe. Here's the surprising twist: whether women used hormone therapy or not during early menopause, their thinking and memory abilities showed no significant differences years later. In a world where women often face pressure to make quick decisions about hormone therapy, this evidence offers clarity – and perhaps relief. It suggests that when it comes to brain health, choosing or declining HRT early into menopause is not the make-or-break decision it's often portrayed to be.
The 1st KEEPS study looked at women who were:
✅ recently menopausal (within 3 years)
✅ given either HRT or placebo
✅ followed for 4 years
✅ At 4 years, they found no clear benefits or harm to brain function
The follow-up study (KEEPS-Continuation) wanted to see what happened years later:
⏩️ They checked in with the same women 10 years after the original study
⏩️ They assessed their thinking abilities, mood, + brain scans
⏩️ They were particularly interested in comparing 2 different oestrogen treatments:
1️⃣ transdermal body identical estradiol (patch) + Micronized progesterone
2️⃣ oral conjugated equine estrogens + Micronized progesterone
The researchers hypothesised:
➡️ The body identical form might show some benefits for brain function compared to placebo
➡️ The oral (synthetic) form would probably show no difference compared to placebo
They gave the women the same thinking and memory tests as in the original study + considered factors like; education, age & APOE4 genetic variants.
The findings…. The hormone treatments (both pill + patch) didn't show any long-term effects on thinking and memory.
Isn't it curious how such pivotal findings, which could help countless women make more informed decisions about their health, didn't make headlines?
