New Link Between HRT and Alzheimer’s for women with certain gene variant

[SugarandSpiceandAllThingsNaice]

https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/news/articles/2025/1/8/hrt-link-to-alzheimers

“Dr Davide Bruno, a Reader in neuropsychology at LJMU, who led the study, said: “If our results are confirmed (in further studies), they would caution against HRT use in women at elevated risk for Alzheimer’s due to genetic susceptibility.
“People who are already at elevated risk of AD, such as those with the e4 variant of APOE, even if currently asymptomatic, may be more susceptible to possible negative effects of hormone replacement.”
“There is still a lot we don’t know but it may be prudent to test women for presence of the APOE e4 variant before HRT administration, at least until more knowledge on this matter is acquired.”
And he added: “We think this may be a scenario whereby exposure to oestrogen might be beneficial for healthy neurons, but in contrast oestrogen might worsen damage in ‘sick’ neurons.”

Ughhhh my genetic tests are due in March and I fear that I might have to stop HRT but then my Mum has had dementia for 23 years and she didn't use hormone replacement.

Anyone interested in Alzheimer's, take a listen to this podcast Episode 178: Karl Herrup discusses the shortcomings of Alzheimer’s research.
It is very interesting and goes into all the back ground info and latest research. They also discuss the genetic link, but give it far less weight than environmental factors.

How does one get genetic testing done?

My understanding is that genetic testing is rare and is limited to a very strong family history where a parent had dementia at a young age.

It's not the norm to have tests. It's also not something that some people want to know especially as it's about risk rather than absolute certainty.

A charity Like Alzheimer's has info on this on their website.

I'm a neuroscientist and I've skim read the paper. These results are very preliminary. It is a small group of people and the HRT is linked to a blood test result that might relate to Alzheimer's, not to Alzheimer's diagnosis itself.

I don't think anyone should rush for genetic testing or change their HRT based on this one small paper.

I know people who are on HRT to reduce their risk of dementia.

I agree with @parietal
It's a tiny study - 136 women.

That never translates into sound research.

It was also observational - not an RCT.

I've not read the entire paper, but (and they may cover this) we know nothing about the women that may also contributed to a higher development of Alzheimer's - like being overweight, sedentary, poor diet etc.- in the presence of the inherited gene.