Menopause News:

Study: Beginning of Menopause Doesn't Mean Memory Loss is Inevitable

Contrary to popular belief, women do not suddenly start to lose their memory when menopause begins, according to a study presented October 4 at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Toronto.

A number of factors have contributed to the common belief that memory loss is an inevitable part of menopause, not the least of which is the perception by women themselves that they become more forgetful during or after menopause.

In addition, some, but not all, studies of the effects of hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) have indicated that women who use it have less cognitive decline following menopause and lower rates of Alzheimer's disease.

However, researchers in Taiwan studied women around the menopausal shift and found scant evidence for memory deficits in women during the early part of menopause.

Jong-Ling Fuh, MD, of Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues assessed the memories of 694 premenopausal women between the ages of 40 and 54 After 18 months, the researchers found that 23 percent of the 495 remaining eligible women had entered menopause.

With the exception of one test, these women scored similarly on various memory tests to the women who had not yet entered menopause. The exception was a test of verbal memory, which involved the sequential presentation of 70 nonsensical figures. The subjects were asked whether the figures had been seen before or not. On the verbal memory test, the women who had entered menopause scored slightly lower than those who had not.

"Since menopause is apparently not accompanied by a significant decline in most cognitive abilities, it might not be helpful for women to use estrogen or progesterone in order to improve their memory during this period," said Fuh.

The researchers note, however, that the follow-up period was just 18 months in this study, and their conclusions are limited to the early menopausal transition.

"A longer follow-up period is warranted to evaluate the impact of menopause on cognitive change," said Fuh.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of October 2, 2004