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

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.

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.

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.

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.