The association of vasomotor symptoms during the menopausal transition and cognition in later life : Menopause

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The association of vasomotor symptoms during the menopausal transition and cognition in later life

Peterson, Amalia MD; Gottesman, Reena T. MD, MS; Miller, Eliza C. MD, MS; Tom, Sarah E. PhD, MPH

Author Information

From the 1Department of Neurology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY

2Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Received December 7, 2021; revised and accepted February 2, 2022.

Funding/support: A.P. is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (T32NS007153). E.C.M. is supported by the NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K23NS107645, R01NS122815), the NIH/National Institute on Aging (R21AG069111), and the Gerstner Family Foundation (Gerstner Scholars Program). S.E.T. is supported by the NIH/NIA (K01AG050723, U19AG066567, R21AG069111).

Financial disclosures/conflicts of interest: S.E.T. receives consulting fees from the Alzheimer’s Association. E.C.M. received past funding from Finch McCranie, LLP (expert testimony), Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen (Expert testimony), and Elsevier, Inc (Textbook editor). She also receives ongoing funding from Argionis & Associates, LLC (Expert testimony) and Grower, Ketcham, Eide, Telan & Meltz (Expert Testimony). The other authors have nothing to disclose.

Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Website (www.menopause.org).

Address correspondence to: Amalia Peterson, MD, 622 W. 168th Street, New York, NY 10032. E-mail: [email protected]

Menopause 29(7):p 832-839, July 2022. | DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001986

Abstract

Objective 

The majority of women experience vasomotor symptoms (VMS) during the menopausal transition. Whether self-reported VMS are associated with cognitive test performance later in life remains unclear. The goal of this study was to determine whether a greater burden of VMS is associated with poor later-life cognition.

Methods 

The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study is a prospective study of randomly selected Wisconsin high school graduates of the class of 1957. At ages 65 and 72, a random subset of participants completed six cognitive tests, including similarities, letter and category fluency, immediate and delayed word recall, and digit ordering. Nested regression models were used to examine the association between extent of VMS, assessed at age 54, and baseline cognition at 65, adjusting for early-life socioeconomic status, women’s reproductive health variables, intelligence quotient, and midlife income. This series of models was also used to examine the association between VMS and change in cognition score from age 65 to 72. In sensitivity analyses, models were repeated in a sample using multiple imputation for missing covariates.

Results 

Of the 5,326 women enrolled, 874 had data onVMS, covariates, and all cognitive tests. In an unadjusted model, higher VMS were associated with a lower similarities score (b = -0.09 95% CI -0.16 to -0.02) at age 65 but no other cognitive tests. In adjusted models, VMS were not related to cognition at age 65 or change in cognition. Results remained similar with multiple imputation.

Conclusions 

Our study does not support a relationship between self-reported VMS and cognition later in life.

© 2022 by The North American Menopause Society

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