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Associations between circulating sex steroid hormones and cognition in normal elderly women

From the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary (Drs. Drake, Brown, and Smith), Pasadena; and the Andrus Gerontology Center (Drs. Henderson, Rizzo, and Buckwalter), the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Henderson, McCleary, and Murdock), Psychology (Dr. Henderson), and Obstetrics/Gynecology (Dr. Stanczyk), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. J. Galen Buckwalter, Department of Research and Evaluation, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, 100 South Los Robles Ave., 2nd Floor, Pasadena, CA 91101.

OBJECTIVE: To provide exploratory analyses of associations between levels of several sex hormones and cognitive performance in elderly women.

BACKGROUND: Sex steroid hormones are implicated in the cognitive processes of the adult brain. Comparing cognitive performance across or between conditions associated with different hormone levels, such as phases of the menstrual cycle, surgical menopause, and estrogen replacement therapy suggests conditions with higher levels of estrogen are associated with better verbal memory and possibly worse visuospatial ability.

METHOD: The authors measured circulating sex hormone levels in 39 highly educated, nondemented, predominantly white elderly women. Levels were correlated with neuropsychological performance, controlling for age, education, frequency of prior testing, use of estrogen replacement, and depression.

RESULTS: High estradiol levels were associated with better delayed verbal memory and retrieval efficiency, whereas low levels were associated with better immediate and delayed visual memory. Levels of testosterone were related positively to verbal fluency. Levels of progesterone and androstenedione were unrelated to cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS: Both estrogen and testosterone showed associations with cognitive performance. Estrogen may enhance, and depress, specific cognitive skills.

Key words: Estrogen—Androgen—Cognition—Women

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