Hormone may boost seniors' mental ability

Healthy older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment given a drug that spurs hormones important to normal brain function had improved concentration, decision-making skills and verbal memory, a study has found.

The healthy adults given Theratechnologies Inc.'s Egrifta, a drug that spurs the release of human growth hormone, had executive function improvements that were more than 100 percent greater than those in a placebo group, while verbal memory improvements were 50 percent greater, said Laura Baker, lead author of yesterday's study in the Archives of Neurology.

The growth hormone is released from the brain and stimulates others that are important for normal brain function, Baker said. The system of hormones declines as people age. Yesterday's findings offer a possible new treatment for the aging brain of healthy older adults as well as those with mild cognitive impairment, who are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, she said.

"Very few other strategies to improve cognition in these adults have demonstrated success," Baker, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, said in an email.

About 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia, and by 2050 that number is expected to grow to as many as 16 million, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Egrifta is also used to reduce excess abdominal fat in HIV patients. -- Bloomberg News