Dr Stephanie Than1,2,3, A/Prof Chris Moran1,2,3, A/Prof Amanda Vincent4,5, A/Prof Richard Beare2,3, Prof Velandai Srikanth1,2,3
1Department of Geriatric Medicine, Peninsula Health, Melbourne, Australia, 2Peninsula Clinical School, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 3National Centre for Healthy Ageing, Melbourne, Australia, 4Department of Endocrinology, Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia, 5School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Aims
Female sex is associated with an increased incidence of dementia. Menopause may play a role in explaining sex differences in cognition, and possibly dementia risk. We aimed to determine if the rate of cognitive decline differed between stages of the menopausal transition.
Methods
Women with data on menopause and longitudinal cognitive function from the UK Biobank study were classified as premenopausal, perimenopausal or postmenopausal. We studied associations of menopausal groups with rate of change in reaction time, verbal-numeric reasoning, prospective memory, visual memory and attention/working memory, adjusted for relevant covariables.
Results
We examined 15,486 women (baseline mean age 52 years) over a mean of 8 years. An interaction between menopausal group and time was found for reaction time (p<0.01). Compared with premenopausal women, the rate of increase (worsening) in reaction time was least in postmenopausal women, and greatest in perimenopausal women. Relative to premenopausal women, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women had overall poorer verbal-numeric reasoning and memory, but no differences in rate of change.
Conclusions
Psychomotor speed is most likely to be affected during the menopause transition, whereas other cognitive functions appear less susceptible. More sensitive brain imaging may be required to understand the underlying neural basis for these findings.
Biography:
Dr Stephanie Than is a specialist geriatrician at Peninsula Health in Melbourne. She is currently completing her PhD at Monash University, examining sex differences in dementia risk.