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Female reproductive health and cognitive function
Chia-Kuang Tsai1, Yuan-Yuei Chen2,3, Chung-Hsing Chou1,4
1Department of Neurology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
Menopause (New York, N.Y.)
|August 26, 2020
Summary
Women with five or more pregnancies showed poorer cognitive function, as measured by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Factors like late last pregnancy and lower education also correlated with cognitive decline.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
Background:
- Sex hormones influence women's cognitive function across reproductive stages.
- Parity, the number of pregnancies, is a key reproductive factor.
- Understanding parity's impact on cognition is crucial for women's health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between parity and cognitive function in postmenopausal women.
- To determine if a higher number of pregnancies is associated with poorer cognitive performance.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 1,093 postmenopausal women from the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
- Cognitive function assessed using the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST).
- Log transformation used to normalize DSST data distribution.
Main Results:
- Women with ≥5 pregnancies had significantly reduced DSST scores (β = -0.13, P = 0.008) compared to those with 0-1 pregnancies, after adjusting for covariates.
- Last pregnancy after age 28 and education <12 years were also associated with poorer cognitive function (P < 0.001).
Conclusions:
- High parity (≥5 pregnancies) is linked to poorer cognitive performance in postmenopausal women.
- Later age at last pregnancy and lower educational attainment are also risk factors for cognitive decline.
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