Memory Takes a Hit During Menopause
They were followed for more than four years.
Assessments were conducted during four stages of the transition: premenopause (menstrual periods remained regular); early perimenopausal (some irregularity but no long gaps); late perimenopause (missing a period for three to 11 months); postmenopausal (having no period for a year).
"Women started off premenopausal and went into menopause so we measured cognitive performance at different parts of the menopause transition," Karlamangla explained. "Much to our surprise, cognitive functioning did not actually decline in any group."
In fact, it improved in all groups, as is often seen after repeated testing, Karlamangla said.
But women in late perimenopause showed less improvement in processing speed than women in the other three phases.
"Learning was not as good in the late perimenopausal stage as in the early perimenopausal phase," Karlamangla said.
And both early and late perimenopausal women showed fewer gains in verbal memory than their counterparts in either premenopause or postmenopause.
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