Cognitive performance of women at various stages of reproductive aging and associated risk factors

Abstract

Objective

Menopausal transition among midlife women is accompanied by the issues of hot flushes, mood swings as well as sleep disturbances, night sweats, urogenital diminution and cognitive changes. The present cross-sectional study is an attempt to recognize the cognitive differences associated with various stages of reproductive aging.

Methods

The study included women (N = 404) aged between 40 and 65 years from rural areas of Punjab (North India). The Mini-Mental State Examination (Hindi version) was used to evaluate orientation, registration, attention, recall, language and visual spatial skills domains of the global cognitive functioning of all participants.

Results

The results of the present study exhibited a decline in cognitive scores across successive menopausal transitional stages in most of the cognitive domains except registration. The results of multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that illiteracy, vegetarian diet, perimenopause and late postmenopause phase were significantly associated with lower global cognitive scores.

Conclusion

With increased longevity, early identification of potential risk factors associated with cognitive decline among women during their midlife can be beneficial in improving the mental health of postmenopausal women.

摘要

目的：中年女性的绝经过渡期伴随着潮热、情绪波动以及睡眠障碍、盗汗、泌尿生殖道萎缩和认知改变等问题。此横断面研究旨在了解生殖衰老各个阶段相关的认知差异。

方法：研究对象包括来自旁遮普（北印度）农村地区的40 ∼ 65岁女性（N=404）。简易精神状态量表（印第安语版）用于评估所有参与者的全面认知功能, 包括定向力、记忆力、注意力、回忆力、语言能力和视觉空间能力。

结果：研究结果显示, 除记忆力外, 大部分认知维度的认知得分在绝经过渡阶段均有所下降。多元回归分析结果显示：文盲、素食饮食、围绝经期和绝经后期与更低的总认知得分有关。

结论：随着寿命的增加, 早期识别与女性中年期认知功能下降相关的潜在危险因素, 有利于改善绝经后女性的心理健康。

Keywords:

• Cognition
• cognitive impairment
• Mini-Mental State Examination
• menopausal transition
• global cognitive functioning

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all of the subjects who voluntarily participated in the study.

Potential conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST) PURSE grant and University Grants Commission (UGC) Commission Center for Advanced studies (CAS)-II awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.