WebMD Medical News Brenda Goodman, MA Louise Chang, MD Oct. 24,
2012 -- Women who take hormones within five years of menopause
may have a slightly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease compared
to women who don’t ever take them, a new study shows. The study,
which is published in the journal Neurology, provides some
support for a theory called the timing hypothesis. The timing
hypothesis suggests that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may
be safer and perhaps even offer some longer-term benefits when
it’s started within a few years of menopause. It comes on the
heels of early results from the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention
Study. That study found that hormones didn’t help or harm memory
or thinking over four years of therapy. “This new evidence adds
a layer of reassurance for women if they were to consider taking
hormones” for menopausal symptoms, says Victor W. Henderson, MD,
professor of neurology at Stanford University in Stanford,
Calif. Henderson wrote an editorial on the study, but was not
involved in the