Better oral reading and short-term memory in midlife, postmenopausal women taking estrogen

Considerable controversy surrounds the issue of whether estrogen influences cognitive function in postmenopausal women, and the results are far from consistent. For the most part, the cognitive processes studied have involved memory; to our knowledge, no previous studies have specifically examined the effects of estrogen on women's reading ability.

To investigate reading and short-term memory in postmenopausal women treated with conjugated equine estrogens, we carried out a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 21 days in 60 midlife, postmenopausal women aged 32.8 to 64.9 years (mean 51.2 years, SD 5.0 years). Women were evaluated for oral reading measured by Gray Oral Reading Tests (third edition) and for verbal memory using immediate and delayed recall on the Logical Memory and Paired Associate Learning subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale and by a Sentence Span task.

The group receiving daily treatment with conjugated equine estrogens (Premarin, 1.25 mg; Wyeth-Ayerst Labs, Philadelphia, PA, USA) showed better oral reading and verbal memory performance than the placebo group.

Estrogen may have positive effects on oral reading and verbal memory in midlife, postmenopausal women.