A study lead by a University of California, San Francisco researcher shows that although raloxifene (known under the brand name Evista) does not affect the cognitive performance of most women, it may help prevent decline among some. These include the women in the study older than age 70 and women whose cognitive performance is declining regardless of age.

Raloxifene is one of the new, so-called designer estrogens. For some body systems it has a very similar effect to natural estrogen, but for some other body systems it can have an opposite or anti-estrogen effect. For example, raloxifene, like estrogen, can strengthen bones and reduce the risk of fractures in post-menopausal women. But while estrogen suppresses the hot flashes experienced by many women at menopause, raloxifene does not decrease hot flashes and may occasionally induce them in some women.

There have been numerous studies of estrogen to assess it's effect on cognitive function changes that may accompany aging. To date there has been no definitive evidence that estrogen can improve cognitive function in those experiencing a decline, some studies suggest that it may slow the rate of decline in some women.

This study looked at data collected during a study of raloxifene call the Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation. This study showed the drug has beneficial effects in preventing the bone loss of osteoporosis and can help reduce the risk of breast cancer. According to Kristine Yaffe, MD chief of geriatric psychiatry at the San Francisco VA Medical Center "In general, raloxifene didn't help cognitive function and it didn't hurt either. That is reassuring for women given the previous concerns that it might be acting as an anti-estrogen, causing harm to the brain."

The study measured the cognitive abilities of over 7,000 women in 25 countries. These cognitive abilities, memory, attention, language, orientation, and visual-spatial skills are among those skills tested when suspecting a patient may have Alzheimer's Disease.

For the most part the cognitive scores of the women in the study declined very little, if at all and taking raloxifene did not affect this decline. This lead the researchers to suggest that raloxifene doesn't have much of an effect on healthy younger women after menopause. But, among the women in the study there was a subgroup of women whose scores were declining substantially and a subgroup over the age of 70. Overall in these 2 subgroups the women who were taking raloxifene as compared with the placebo had less dramatic declines in cognitive abilities.

In the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer's raloxifene gives only a small glimmer of hope, it remains a very effective treatment option for osteoporosis.