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Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 10:311-320, June 2002
© 2002 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Regular Article

Relationship of Endogenous Levels of Sex Hormones to Cognition and Depression in Frail, Elderly Women

Brenda Breuer, Ph.D., Charles Martucci, Ph.D., Sylvan Wallenstein, Ph.D., Antonios Likourezos, M.P.H., Leslie S. Libow, M.D., Ann Peterson, Ph.D., and Barnett Zumoff, M.D.

Received October 24, 2001; revised February 6, 2002; accepted February 27, 2002. From The Jewish Home and Hospital of New York, NY (BB, AL, LSL), the Henry L. Schwartz Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development (BB, AL, LSL), the Department of Psychiatry (AP), and the Department of Biomathematics (SW), The Strang Cancer Research Laboratories, Rockefeller University, New York, NY (CM), and Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY (BZ). Address correspondence to Brenda Breuer, Ph.D.; Hospital for Joint Diseases, Comprehensive Pain Treatment Center, 10th Floor, 301 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003. e-mail: brenda.breuer{at}med.nyu.edu

Neuropsychological evaluations and sex hormone assays for 188 elderly, female nursing home residents (mean age: 87.8 years; standard deviation: 7.0 years) revealed inverse relationships for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) blood levels and cognition scores based on the Mini-Mental State Exam and the Test for Severe Impairment, as well as for scores of the Immediate Recall, Copy, and Recognition tests of the Visual Reproduction subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised (WMS–R; VR). A positive correlation between estrone and depression approached significance, as did the inverse relationships between the Recognition scores of the WMS–R; VR with androstenedione. These results and findings of others suggest that sex hormone actions in elderly women may differ from those in younger populations. A possible stress-related mechanism is also posited.

Key Words: Depression • Dementias (general) • Sex Hormones • DHEA • Estrone






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