Testosterone treatment may not improve women's memory skills after such surgeries, according to a new study, suggesting that it may not help other women after menopause either.
Researchers have wondered whether replacing the small amount of testosterone that women stop producing after having hysterectomies, could improve the memory loss experienced by many postmenopausal women. But testosterone treatment may not improve women's memory skills after such surgeries, according to a new study, suggesting that it may not help other women after menopause either.
Women who took oestrogen and testosterone after having surgery to remove their ovaries and uteruses did worse on one memory test, and no differently on others, than women who took oestrogen alone.
Millions of postmenopausal women all around the globe are prescribed hormone therapy - generally oestrogen and a progesterone-like hormone - every year. The risks and benefits of hormone therapy remain controversial as studies have proven that these therapies makes women vulnerable to ovarian and breast cancer and strokes, as well as heart disease. The effect of hormone therapy on memory loss is still up for debate, especially for testosterone. To investigate this, researchers treated 44 women who had hysterectomies for non-cancerous conditions. Half of those women took oestrogen and testosterone and the other half took oestrogen and an inactive placebo. After five and a half months, the women switched treatments.
At the beginning of the study, the researchers put the women through a battery of memory tests to measure verbal, spatial and working memory and had them fill out a questionnaire about their memory problems. The tests and questionnaire were repeated after each round of treatment.
For most tests, women that had been taking oestrogen and testosterone and women taking only oestrogen performed about the same, with a general trend toward fewer everyday memory problems but mixed results on other memory tests. On one test, in which women had to recall a logical story, women on the testosterone plus oestrogen treatment performed significantly worse than women just on oestrogen. Both groups improved over their baseline scores, however - suggesting that oestrogen had a positive effect on this type of memory, but that testosterone cancelled out some of its benefits.
Women who took oestrogen and testosterone after having surgery to remove their ovaries and uteruses did worse on one memory test, and no differently on others, than women who took oestrogen alone.
Millions of postmenopausal women all around the globe are prescribed hormone therapy - generally oestrogen and a progesterone-like hormone - every year. The risks and benefits of hormone therapy remain controversial as studies have proven that these therapies makes women vulnerable to ovarian and breast cancer and strokes, as well as heart disease. The effect of hormone therapy on memory loss is still up for debate, especially for testosterone. To investigate this, researchers treated 44 women who had hysterectomies for non-cancerous conditions. Half of those women took oestrogen and testosterone and the other half took oestrogen and an inactive placebo. After five and a half months, the women switched treatments.
At the beginning of the study, the researchers put the women through a battery of memory tests to measure verbal, spatial and working memory and had them fill out a questionnaire about their memory problems. The tests and questionnaire were repeated after each round of treatment.
For most tests, women that had been taking oestrogen and testosterone and women taking only oestrogen performed about the same, with a general trend toward fewer everyday memory problems but mixed results on other memory tests. On one test, in which women had to recall a logical story, women on the testosterone plus oestrogen treatment performed significantly worse than women just on oestrogen. Both groups improved over their baseline scores, however - suggesting that oestrogen had a positive effect on this type of memory, but that testosterone cancelled out some of its benefits.
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