Latest HRT trial results show risk of dementia
摘要
Postmenopausal women who take combined oestrogen and progestogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) face twice the risk of developing dementia than women who do not, a new study says ( JAMA 2203;289:2651-62). The finding deals a fresh blow to the practice of routine hormonal supplementation in postmenopausal women and contradicts previous observational and epidemiological studies that indicated that oestrogen replacement therapy could protect against Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementias ( JAMA 2002;288:2123-9, 2170-1). As reported in last week's BMJ (31 May, p 1161) the drug company Wyeth, which funded the study, has admitted that it secretly briefed a number of medical societies in advance of the study's publication, knowing it was going to be potentially damaging for the company. The …