Hormone Replacement and Behavior, Mood and Memory

Hormone Replacement
and Behavior, Mood and Memory

Postmenopausal women are evaluated for memory, object orientation and mood, through a battery of tests, including the evaluation of urine and blood samples as well as brief computerized tasks and questionnaires. The women are then given one of two types of HRT, estrogen or raloxifene, or placebo.

Sept. 25, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- Women's health is a fairly new area of scientific medical research. As evidenced by several conflicting studies and subsequent public confusion, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is one area of women's health that is in need of much more study. The University of Kentucky is taking an active role in furthering such research in HRT.

The behavioral science department at UK has collaborated with obstetrics and gynecology in a one-year study evaluating the effects of HRT on behavior, memory and mood. Primary investigators in the study include Thomas H. Kelly, professor of behavioral science, and Kenneth R. Muse, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, UK College of Medicine.

Hormone effects are determined by comparing behavioral measures before the initiation of therapy with those taken after one, six and 12 months of daily treatment in matched groups receiving the two forms of HRT or placebo.

The study is part of the $8.3 million Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Women's Health, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Thus far, this grant has been the largest single grant ever to be awarded in the area of women's health at UK.

To participate in this study, you must be a healthy, postmenopausal woman, have never had HRT or have not received HRT in the last year, be able to attend 15-minute sessions once per month, and be able to attend five-hour assessments four times during the year.

Qualified participants will receive, at no cost, study-related physical examinations and hormones, as well as compensation for participation.

For more information on this study, please call (859) 277-3799 or click here.