Estrogen replacement therapy and frontotemporal dementia.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).


METHODS
We examined the files of thirty female patients diagnosed with FTD at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)-Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Fresno between the years of 1994 and 1999. Twenty-one patients (70%) were found to have been taking ERT at the time of their evaluation. This was compared with an estimate of estrogen use in a similar cohort from the general population (24%).


RESULTS
Chi-square (chi(2)) analysis found this number to be significantly greater than estimates from the general population significant (chi(2)[df=1, N=30]=34.803, P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Three potential explanations for the findings are put forth, including an intriguing neurobiological relationship between estradiol and tau, the complex protein implicated in the etiology of FTD.
Levine
Andrew J
AJ
Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California Los Angeles, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room C8-747, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759, USA. ajlevine@mednet.ucla.edu
Hewett
Linda
L
D000368:Aged; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged