A new study suggests that estrogen drug Raloxifene brings about no improvement in the memory and thinking skills of women who were suffering from dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, Latinos health Day reports.  

The new findings were published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, for its Nov. 4, 2015 online issue.

A previous study had suggested that Raloxifene might lower the risk of cognitive impairment or dementia.

"Drugs that interact with estrogen receptors have attracted a great deal of interest as a potential treatment for women with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, but relatively small studies of estrogen have generally failed to confirm any benefit," said study author Victor Henderson, MD, MS, with Stanford University in Stanford, California, and a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Prior to this study, Raloxifene had not been evaluated as an Alzheimer treatment."

For the study, the research team assessed the memory and other mental functions of 42 women with an average age of 76 who were suffering from mild to moderate dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

The participants were separated in two groups in which one was given Raloxifene and the other with a placebo pill.

"We found that the drug did not have any significant effect on patients after one year," Henderson said.

"If there are cognitive effects in this population, these effects are likely to be no more than small. These results may be valuable if future trials of raloxifene are considered."

Since the number of women in the study was so small, with only 21 women receiving treatment with raloxifene, "this study can't exclude a small effect," Henderson said, reports Web MD.