Longer Use of Hormonal Contraception During Midlife Predicts Better Cognitive Function Later

This finding may have implications for prevention of declining cognitive function that occurs with advancing age and in diseases such as Alzheimer's.

The beneficial effects of hormones increase the longer a woman uses them, as described in a study published in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women’s Health website.

Kelly Egan, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and Carey Gleason, PhD, William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, Madison, WI, present the results of cognitive performance tests administered to women enrolled in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention in the article “Longer Duration of Hormonal Contraceptive Use Predicts Better Cognitive Outcomes Later in Life.”

“This study provides preliminary evidence that hormonal contraceptives may have a protective cognitive effect, even years after use is discontinued,” says Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women’s Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women’s Health.

About the Journal
Journal of Women’s Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. The Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women’s healthcare issues. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women’s Health website. Journal of Women’s Health is the Official Journal of the Academy of Women’s Health and the Society for Women’s Health Research.

About the Academy
Academy of Women’s Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women’s health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy’s focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Population Health Management, Thyroid, Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.