Hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia: positive effect on negative symptoms?

BACKGROUND Some studies of premenopausal women suggest that the severity of psychopathology associated with schizophrenia may be related to levels of estrogen. METHODS We examined psychopathology in community-dwelling postmenopausal women with schizophrenia who had received (n = 24) versus had never received (n = 28) hormone replacement therapy. RESULTS Users of hormone replacement therapy and nonusers did not differ significantly with respect to age, ethnicity, education, age of onset, duration of schizophrenia, global cognitive functioning, or neuroleptic-induced movement disorders. The hormone replacement therapy users received lower average daily doses of antipsychotic medication; they had similar levels of positive symptoms but significantly less severe negative symptoms compared with hormone replacement therapy nonusers, independent of differences in antipsychotic dosage. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the use of hormone replacement therapy in conjunction with antipsychotic medication in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia may help reduce negative, but not positive, symptoms.