Abstract
Objective
Aim of the present study was to examine the adrenocortical activity in basal condition
and following a mild stress exposure in long-term HRT-treated menopausal women. Menopausal
women, long term users of HRT (14 subjects) were compared both to menopausal women
who had never used HRT (14 subjects) and young pre-menopausal women (14 subjects).
Study design
Morning and evening salivary cortisol secretion was measured in samples collected
twice a day (08:00 in the morning and 08:00 in the evening). Mild stress response
was evoked by administration of the Stroop color-word test (CWT). Salivary cortisol
was measured immediately before the start, 15, 30 and 45 min after the completion of the test.
Results
Menopause appears not to be associated with an impairment of cortisol circadian fluctuation.
Long-term use of HRT in menopause attenuated HPA activity either in basal condition
or in response to mild stress exposure.
With regard to the CWT performance, all menopausal women took significantly longer
than young women to perform the test. However, long-term HRT significantly reduced
the number of errors made during the test.
Conclusions
The present study suggested that long-term HRT could help menopausal patients to cope
with mild stress and to improve mental performances.
Abbreviations:
HRT (hormone replacement therapy), HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal), CWT (color-word test)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 21,
2006
Received in revised form:
January 18,
2006
Received:
July 22,
2005
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
