Frontline: Shingles; Liver Cancer; Hormone Replacement Therapy
Shingles Is Associated with Higher Risk of Cognitive Decline in Women
Having a bout of shingles is associated with a 20 percent higher risk of subjective cognitive decline symptoms such as long-term confusion and memory loss, according to a study published in the August issue of Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. Shingles is a painful rash triggered by the herpes zoster virus, which causes chickenpox. Subjective cognitive decline refers to when a person thinks their memory or thinking skills are worsening, even if tests don’t show measurable decline. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital examined data from 150,000 participants of the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII), and the Professionals Follow-Up Study. All NHS and NHS II participants (approximately 82 percent of the study population) were women. The long-term risk of subjective cognitive decline appeared higher in women who were unvaccinated against shingles.
Women with Liver Cancer Are Less Likely Than Men to Receive a Donor Liver
Women with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer in the United States, were less likely to receive a liver transplant and more likely to die while wait-listed compared with men, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal JAMA Surgery. Liver transplant can be an effective treatment for this kind of cancer, with a risk of recurrence of less than 15 percent and a 50 percent or higher survival rate 10 years after transplant, as opposed to an 18 percent/five-year survival rate without this treatment. The study evaluated transplant likelihood and outcomes among 31,725 adults with HCC who were on the liver transplant waiting list between 2010 and 2023. The disparities in donor liver allocations were mostly explained by the smaller size of female candidates. The researchers say their findings suggest that changes to donor liver allocation policies are needed to resolve the sex disparity, including solutions to improve access to livers for smaller candidates.
Hormone Replacement Therapy May Slow Biological Aging in Older Women
Taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may slow biological aging, according to a study that was published in September in JAMA Network Open. The research, which included more than 100,000 women participants from the UK Biobank, found that increasing estrogen levels with HRT can slow the pace of accelerated aging, and that women who start HRT after age 50 and stay on the medication for less than a decade seem to experience the greatest benefits.
In this study, biological aging was measured using a method called “phenotypic age,” which combines a person’s chronological age with a variety of health factors and arrives at how well the person’s body functions. The outcomes suggest that since estrogen has protective effects on various body systems, a drop in estrogen levels during menopause would accelerate biological aging, and that HRT could help pause this effect and potentially slow deterioration and improve longevity. Further investigations are warranted to confirm these clinical benefits.
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