Surgical ovary removal may increase risk of Alzheimer's

Study notes presence of variant of APOE4 allele and its effect

Women who have had both ovaries surgically removed before age 50, and carry a variant of the apolipoprotein gene, are at a high risk of late-life Alzheimer's disease, a new study has revealed.

The research, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease by a team from University of Toronto in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Alberta, found that a variant of the apolipoprotein gene, the APOE4 allele, put such women at high risk of Alzheimer's and the use of hormone therapy mitigates this risk.