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CNN Live At Daybreak
More Bad News For Some Women Taking Hormones During Menopause
Aired May 28, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk health news once again this morning because here we go again. More bad news for some women taking hormones during menopause.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with more.
It sounds like deja vu all over again, in the words of Yogi Berra.
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. And it seems that the combination hormones not only double the risk of stroke in older women, they also double the risk of dementia and they don't practice against mild cognitive impairment, that mild memory loss which affects up to a third of older adults.
When women over the age of 65 take a popular form of hormone replacement therapy, they double their risk of getting dementia. That's according to a new study by the National Institutes of Health. The drug is called Prempro. Its maker, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, funded the study.
In the study, over 4,500 women aged 65 and older were given either a combined estrogen plus progestin or a placebo pill and were followed for five years.
COSTELLO: It's so strange. Is this what doctors were expecting from this?
FRYHOFER: Oh, Carol, quite the contrary. Both doctors and patients were actually hoping that estrogen would have a beneficial effect, because there is strong evidence suggesting that that estrogen could be beneficial. In fact, there are estrogen receptors located throughout the brain, including the learning and memory centers. So even last year when we found out that combination hormones increased the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, stroke and blood clots, many women wanted to keep taking them, hoping to ward off Alzheimer's. But now we know that the combination hormones just don't help.
COSTELLO: So how big of a problem is this for dementia?
FRYHOFER: A huge problem, Carol. In a woman's lifetime, a third of women will come down with dementia. And so that's, it's a big problem. But, you know, if you look at the population overall, it's double the risk, which sounds pretty scary. But understand that the absolute risk to the individual patient is quite small. And if you look at 10,000 women aged 65 and older, 45 women taking hormones will be diagnosed with dementia as compared to 22 women taking placebo. And that's an additional 23 cases each year.
And, Carol, you had asked about the problem of dementia. In a woman's lifetime, over a third will come down with dementia. About 20 percent of all men will develop dementia during their lifetime. Currently, there are about four million Americans who have Alzheimer's Disease. This number is expected to quadruple over the next 50 years.
So the message here -- don't use hormones to protect the brain. They don't protect against dementia. They don't protect cognition and, in fact, they seem to make it worse.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks for the advice this morning.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer joining us live here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Menopause>
Aired May 28, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk health news once again this morning because here we go again. More bad news for some women taking hormones during menopause.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with more.
It sounds like deja vu all over again, in the words of Yogi Berra.
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. And it seems that the combination hormones not only double the risk of stroke in older women, they also double the risk of dementia and they don't practice against mild cognitive impairment, that mild memory loss which affects up to a third of older adults.
When women over the age of 65 take a popular form of hormone replacement therapy, they double their risk of getting dementia. That's according to a new study by the National Institutes of Health. The drug is called Prempro. Its maker, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, funded the study.
In the study, over 4,500 women aged 65 and older were given either a combined estrogen plus progestin or a placebo pill and were followed for five years.
COSTELLO: It's so strange. Is this what doctors were expecting from this?
FRYHOFER: Oh, Carol, quite the contrary. Both doctors and patients were actually hoping that estrogen would have a beneficial effect, because there is strong evidence suggesting that that estrogen could be beneficial. In fact, there are estrogen receptors located throughout the brain, including the learning and memory centers. So even last year when we found out that combination hormones increased the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, stroke and blood clots, many women wanted to keep taking them, hoping to ward off Alzheimer's. But now we know that the combination hormones just don't help.
COSTELLO: So how big of a problem is this for dementia?
FRYHOFER: A huge problem, Carol. In a woman's lifetime, a third of women will come down with dementia. And so that's, it's a big problem. But, you know, if you look at the population overall, it's double the risk, which sounds pretty scary. But understand that the absolute risk to the individual patient is quite small. And if you look at 10,000 women aged 65 and older, 45 women taking hormones will be diagnosed with dementia as compared to 22 women taking placebo. And that's an additional 23 cases each year.
And, Carol, you had asked about the problem of dementia. In a woman's lifetime, over a third will come down with dementia. About 20 percent of all men will develop dementia during their lifetime. Currently, there are about four million Americans who have Alzheimer's Disease. This number is expected to quadruple over the next 50 years.
So the message here -- don't use hormones to protect the brain. They don't protect against dementia. They don't protect cognition and, in fact, they seem to make it worse.
COSTELLO: All right, thanks for the advice this morning.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer joining us live here.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Menopause>
