Investigators at the National Institute on Aging reported their findings in the medical journal Neurology. The researchers said women over 40 years of age who were taking the hormone scored better on visual memory tests when compared with others not using estrogen after menopause.
Further, says study author Dr. Susan Resnick, the women using the hormone "maintained stable performance over time, whereas women who remained off estrogen replacement therapy showed the predicted age-associated increase in memory errors."
The study tends to "offer further support for a beneficial role of estrogen on cognitive function in aging women," Resnick says. Researchers used the results of a visual retention tests taken by 172 women not using estrogen and 116 women using hormone replacement therapy.
