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Study - Brain Lapses In Learning During Perimenopause

By Jane Akre

The Menopausal Brain

LEARN MORE UCLA - Press release American Academy of Neurology UCLA Division of Geriatrics InjuryBoard, Mobile - FDA Warns About False Claims for some Menopause Therapy Drugs, January 2008 InjuryBoard, Honolulu - Prempro and Breast Cancer - April 2009 InjuryBoard News - Study Links Hormone Use To Breast Cancer - December 2008 Injuryboard on HRT  Dr. Dach web site  Safe Menopause Solutions Progesterone Cream  Dr. Lark on hormone replacement    IMAGE SOURCE:  iStockphoto/ mature woman running

It's a cry that is heard repeatedly by women in their prime- that is entering menopause- that their brains do not work well.

In the largest study of its kind to date and published in Neurology, UCLA researchers found that may be true temporarily.  

They followed more than 2,300 women ages 42 to 52 over four years.  Some women were in menopause, others in the perimenopause state, just before menopause.  They were all given three tests over the four years on verbal memory, working memory, and processing speed.    The women were tested during menopause transition (MT) from premenopause, to early perimenopause, late perimenopause and post menopause.

The processing speed improved with repeated testing during premenopause, early perimenopause and post menopause. But late perimenopause score improvement was only 28 percent as large as premenopausal improvements.

Repeated tests suggest that early and late perimenopausal women do not learn as well as during other MT stages. 

"These perimenopausal test results concur with prior self-reported memory difficulties - 60 percent of women state that they have memory problems during the menopause transition," said Dr. Gail Greendale, a professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said in a news release. "The good news is that the effect of perimenopause on learning seems to be temporary. Our study found that the amount of learning improved back to premenopausal levels during the postmenopausal stage."

For years, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) combining forms of estrogen and progestin was believed to improve brain functioning. This study finds taking estrogen or progesterone hormones before menopause improved verbal memory and processing, but taking them after the final menstrual period had little impact.    Postmenopausal women not taking hormones showed improvement in process and verbal memory. 

The findings indicate there is a critical period for hormone benefits on the brain, likely before menopause.  

HRT was used by millions of women to relieve hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause, and protect against cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. But in 2002, a major federal study found that HRT showed substantially increased risks for heart disease, breast cancer, stroke and dementia.  #

Originally posted at Jane Akre

Full post as published by West Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer on June 02, 2009 (boomark / email).