For Women, Doctor Is Finally In : Medical research is turning toward their long-neglected concerns

A new study that links estrogen treatment to improved memory among elderly women with Alzheimer’s disease is not only encouraging but consistent with other recent findings of medical benefits in the female hormone. Taken together, these studies and others signal an overdue and welcome interest in the long-term health and special medical concerns of women.

The latest results, emerging from a modest study conducted at the Veterans Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., found that increasing the levels of estrogen in female Alzheimer’s patients in their late 70s dramatically enhanced mental activity. The estrogen was administered through a skin patch in doses no larger than those normally prescribed as a supplement after menopause.

This study is the first to assert that application of the hormone may help restore memory. Several other recent studies suggest that estrogen can affect mood in post-menopausal women, prevent bone loss, promote heart health and, in some cases, prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s. However, concerns linger about a possible increased risk of cancer for menopausal women who take estrogen as part of a regimen of hormone replacement. Long-term studies now underway may help resolve that question.

The relatively new interest in women’s health has emerged in part from initiatives launched by the National Institutes of Health and universities around the country. For too long, health research disproportionately dealt with male subjects and how medical problems such as heart disease affected men. By including more women as subjects, researchers are now beginning to understand that the same disease may display a different pattern and call for different treatment in women. With millions of baby-boom women now nearing 50, this new medical attention is welcome.