Study on the relationship between female Alzheimer's disease and the level of estrogen

Objective: To analyse the levels of estrogen in women patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the relationship of estrogen level, menarche age, age of menopause, pregnancy times with severity of AD. Methods: A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted. The study subjects were given neuropsychological test face to face in questionnaire, including MMSE, ADL, POD, FOM, WISE and HMT depression scale. All the women subjects accepted another questionnaire concerning menarche age, age of menopause and pregnancy times. Radioimmunoassay was used to measure the sex hormone level of all the subjects. Results: The level of estrogen in serum was obviously lower in AD group than in the control group (P<0.05). In AD group, there was a significant positive correlation of estrogen level in serum with severity of AD and MMSE score (P<0.05). The menarche age and menopause age significantly differed in the two groups (P<0.05). In AD group the menarche age was older, and the menopause age was younger than that of the control group. Although there was no significant difference between the two groups, the number of pregnancy times were smaller in AD group than in the control group. Conclusion: The level of estrogen in serum is obviously lower in women patients with AD. The deficiency of estrogen may be one of the risk factors of AD.