Surveying of estrogen and progesterone effects on electroencephalogram and mini-mental status examination (MMSE) in female patients with alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, leading to debilitating the patient and indirectly causing a lot of economical and psychological problems both for the rest of the family and for the society. Because of the high incidence of the disease and no definite treatment for it, a lot of studies are being carried out to find effective therapies. Recent studies suggest that estrogen and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may slow down or stop the progression of the disease. This study was aimed to determine the effect of HRT on the symptoms of the disorder in women with Alzheimer and their EEG changes. This interventional- clinical trial study was carried out on thirty post menopausal women suffering from Alzheimer's disease aged forty-one and over with no contraindications for hormone therapy. For every patient EEG and MMSE were performed and then the patients were randomly divided into case and control groups. For four months, the case group received conjugated-estrogen 0.625 mg with half of a medroxy progesterone acetate tablet daily. The other group received placebo. After two and four month intervals MMSE and EEG were recorded again and finally the data was analyzed by SPSS software, paired and unpaired t tests and at the significant level P≤0.05. Mean MMSE score in the case group two months and four months after intervention was 19.47±2.2 and 19.87±2.53, respectively which were significantly higher than the score before intervention (17.27±2.31) (P=0.001 and P=0.001). Mean MMSE score in the control group after two and four months was 19±4.17 and 19±4.61 respectively, which did not show a significant difference with before intervention mean score (17.73±5.13), (P=0.08 and P=0.192, respectively). Frequency distribution of EEG changes two months after intervention in both groups did not statistically show a significant difference but four months after intervention positive EEG changes compared to other changes in the case group were higher than those in the control group, which was a significant difference (P=0.003). From the findings of this study support the hypothesis that hormone replacement therapy improves symptoms and EEG changes of most women with Alzheimer's disease. Thus, hormone therapy with estrogen and progesterone, while having the least complications, can be beneficial in the treatment of women with Alzheimer's disease.