If you have been on
hormone therapy for a while, read this
I usually don’t get too excited about any study that talks
in terms of “associated with” rather than quoting actual statistical support or
even actual numbers, but… This report was published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
According to the Journal article there is an “association”
between men being treated with hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy)
and an increased incidence of diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease.
16,888 men with prostate cancer (2,297 being treated with a
hormone therapy) were followed for 2.7 years. In this group there were 125 new
diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease. Overall, those treated with hormone therapy
had an 88% higher risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s than those men not
on hormone therapy. The longer men had been on hormone treatment, the higher
the risk.
There will be further studies, of course and more definitive
information will be available. In the meantime, researchers and doctors do not
have any recommendations for us. Don’t stop your hormone therapy just yet.
I have been on hormone therapy for quite a few years so I will
be watching this drama unfold very carefully. Maybe I’d have been better off if
I had never read this. Naaaaaaa.
axman
