Background:
Development of pharmacological strategies for improving cognitive impairment has recently become a key issue in the treatment of schizophrenia. The steroid hormone estrogen is hypothesized to be protective for women with schizophrenia and has been found to exert positive effects on specific cognitive domains in healthy postmenopausal women. We have previously reported a significant improvement in psy-chopathology ratings associated with adjunctive estrogen treatment. We additionally investigated the effects of adjunctive estrogen treatment on cognitive function in women with schizophrenia.
Methods:
Fifty women of childbearing age with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder received 100 μg/ day transdermal estradiol or placebo for 4 weeks, under double-blind conditions. The cognitive battery, assessing attention, verbal fluency, memory and executive function, was administered at baseline and at 4 weeks. Hormone assays were collected, and psy-chopathology was measured weekly.
Results:
Results indicated no significant changes in cognition following 4 weeks of adjunctive estrogen treatment. While baseline endogenous estrogen levels were also not significantly related to cognitive function, there was a correlation found between LH and a measure of information processing.
Conclusions:
Short-term estrogen treatment as an adjunct to antipsychotics does not significantly alter cognitive functioning, despite significant improvements in psychopathology ratings. It may be that estrogen treatment has selective effects on psychopathology; however, further exploration of this area is needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.
