Treating menopausal symptoms with estradiol therapy (ET) may shield women from stress’ negative effects on some types of memory, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Researchers led by Alexandra Ycaza Herrera, PhD, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, point out that one negative effect of stress is interference with working memory, and that since ET can reduce the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response to stress, “the hormone may also mitigate the effects of stress on working memory by limiting the cortisol response to the stressor.”
“We know estrogen can modify women’s hormonal response to stress, and we wanted to test whether such modifications also altered its subsequent effects on memory,” Herrera says. “Our study suggests that estrogen treatment after menopause protects working memory needed for short-term cognitive tasks from the effects of stress.”
The researchers recruited 42 participants for the study from the double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized Early versus Late Intervention Trial with Estradiol (ELITE), in which 21 women received estrogen therapy for menopausal symptoms and 21 women received a placebo for a median of randomized 4.7 years. The women provided saliva samples so the researchers could measure their levels of cortisol.
During two separate sessions, each participant completed a memory task in which they were instructed to remember the final word of each sentence. Prior to one of the sessions, the women submerged their non-dominant hand in ice water for as long as possible, for a maximum of three minutes. During the other session, the women submerged the same hand in warm water before completing the memory test. Although the women who were receiving estrogen therapy reported feeling more stressed by the cold water exposure than the women who received the placebo, they had lower levels of cortisol than their counterparts following the stress test. Women receiving hormone therapy performed about the same on the memory task, regardless of whether they were exposed to the cold water stressor in advance or not. Women who were taking the placebo performed worse on the memory task following exposure to the cold water than they did when they were not exposed to a physical stressor.
The researchers note that while their primary hypotheses were supported, there were some limitations, such as the small sample size and that larger studies will need to be conducted in order to confirm the results. “Despite these limitations,” the authors conclude, “this study suggests there are other roles of ET besides relief from menopause-related symptoms, including limiting effects of stress on working memory and perhaps aiding in maintenance of proper HPA reactivity.” “The findings give us new insight into how estrogen treatment after menopause affects women,” Herrera says. “Although more research is needed, this may make estrogen therapy more attractive as a treatment for menopausal symptoms as well as a potential preventative strategy against a host of other age-related declines.”
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