High Estrogen Linked to Dementia in Older Men

[Angel]

A new report links higher estrogen levels in older men with an increased risk of dementia.

Researchers from the Netherlands analyzed data of Japanese-American men ages 70 to 91 who were in the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. When they joined the study between 1991 and 1993, the participants had no signs of dementia. Researchers measured the levels of testosterone and the estrogen, estradiol, then re-examined the men in 1994, 1996 and 1997.

Results reveal testosterone levels were not associated with the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. But for each standard deviation increase in estradiol level, the risk of Alzheimer's disease went up by 25 percent.

Researchers say the estradiol link may be due to an increase in aromatase activity in the brain, which may be associated with a neurodegenerative process. That would make it possible for high levels of the estrogen to be the result or early sign of Alzheimer's disease instead of a cause.

"Our findings of an increased risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease associated with higher estradiol are similar to recent findings in postmenopausal women," write the authors. "Further studies are needed to examine whether there are mechanisms by which estradiol may increase risk of cognitive decline and dementia."