HRT may lower Alzheimer’s risk

HORMONE replacement therapy may prevent Alzheimer’s in high-risk women, a study suggests.

Taking the menopause drug was linked with better memory, cognitive function and larger brain volumes in later life in women carrying a gene called APOE4.

People with two copies of the gene are up to 15 per cent more likely to get Alzheimer’s and may start having symptoms ten years earlier than average.

This makes APOE4 the strongest risk factor gene for Alzheimer’s but does not 100 per cent mean the disease will develop.

Experts looked at the results of cognitive tests of 1,178 women across ten European countries.

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.