ReviewEndocrine reviews2010
Estrogen therapy and cognition: a review of the cholinergic hypothesis.
Review in Endocrine reviews, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 125 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
125 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 202 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Impact of Endocrine Therapy on Cognitive Functions of Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review.Clinical drug investigation · 2016Pooled it
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy is not associated with risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease.Epidemiologic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Oral Choline Reduced Working Memory-Related Brain Activation in Postmenopausal Women: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2026Trial
- Tamoxifen improves cholinergically modulated cognitive performance in postmenopausal women.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2013Trial
- Estradiol treatment altered anticholinergic-related brain activation during working memory in postmenopausal women.NeuroImage · 2012Trial
- Estrogen treatment impairs cognitive performance after psychosocial stress and monoamine depletion in postmenopausal women.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2010Trial
- Cholinergic modulation of hippocampal activity during episodic memory encoding in postmenopausal women: a pilot study.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2010Trial
- Estrogen deprivation exacerbates Alzheimer's disease pathology through neuronal CTSS signaling.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- The influence of sex on cognition in psychosis.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Article
- Intra-Accumbal Infusions of an αSynapse (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Acetylcholine in Brain-Body Communication: Biological Mechanisms and Physiological Roles.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Plasma proteomics link menopause timing to brain aging and dementia risk.Research square · 2026Article
- Plasma proteomics link menopause timing to brain aging and dementia risk.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Home-cage pharmacology in marmosets: behavioral effects of scopolamine.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Sex differences in neuromodulatory subcortical systems and their implications for Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Review
- Mortality risk associated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitor use in Parkinson's disease dementia according to sex and age at disease onset: a nationwide cohort study.Epidemiology and health · 2026Article
- Scopolamine induced learning deficit in marmosets.Research square · 2025Article
- Beyond Estrogen: Unraveling the Complexities of Hormonal Signaling Pathways in Alzheimer's Disease and Their Implications for Precision Therapy.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Scopolamine induced learning deficit in marmosets.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Early menopause is associated with reduced global brain activity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
65 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The pros and cons of estrogen therapy for use in postmenopausal women continue to be a major topic of debate in women's health. Much of this debate focuses on the potential benefits vs. harm of estrogen therapy on the brain and the risks for cognitive impairment associated with aging and Alzheimer's disease. Many animal and human studies suggest that estrogens can have significant beneficial effects on brain aging and cognition and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's-related dementia; however, others disagree. Important discoveries have been made, and hypotheses have emerged that may explain some of the inconsistencies. This review focuses on the cholinergic hypothesis, specifically on evidence that beneficial effects of estrogens on brain aging and cognition are related to interactions with cholinergic projections emanating from the basal forebrain. These cholinergic projections play an important role in learning and attentional processes, and their function is known to decline with advanced age and in association with Alzheimer's disease. Evidence suggests that many of the effects of estrogens on neuronal plasticity and function and cognitive performance are related to or rely upon interactions with these cholinergic projections; however, studies also suggest that the effectiveness of estrogen therapy decreases with age and time after loss of ovarian function. We propose a model in which deficits in basal forebrain cholinergic function contribute to age-related changes in the response to estrogen therapy. Based on this model, we propose that cholinergic-enhancing drugs, used in combination with an appropriate estrogen-containing drug regimen, may be a viable therapeutic strategy for use in older postmenopausal women with early evidence of mild cognitive decline.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.