menopause

Menopause: Night Sweats Tied to Cognitive Dysfunction

Despite the known benefits of sleep, women with history of breast cancer who experience night sweats during menopause may be more prone to cognitive dysfunction as their sleep duration increases, according to new research presented at the North American Menopause Society’s 2019 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.1

The new research adds to previous findings that suggested objective vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are associated with decreased memory, and that night sweats could therefore be a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline during menopause.

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Researchers arrived at their conclusion after performing secondary analyses of baseline data from a feasibility study of Stellate Ganglion Blockade for the treatment of VMS among 33 women with history of breast cancer who reported experiencing VMS, such as hot flashes and night sweats, at least 4 times per day. Of these patients, 3 were ultimately excluded from the final analysis. Each participant underwent neuropsychological testing, ambulatory skin conductance assessments of VMS, and actigraphy-based sleep monitoring to assess total sleep time.

Ultimately, findings indicated that more frequent night sweats were associated with greater sleep duration, but daytime hot flashes had no impact on total sleep time. Following adjustment for night sweats, no significant association was observed between total sleep time and performance in any cognitive domain. However, the researchers noted, significant interactions between night sweats and total sleep time were observed for semantic fluency, digit span forward, and digit span backward.

Notably, the association between total sleep time and cognition depended on the frequency of night sweats. A positive association between total sleep time and cognitive performance was observed among women who experienced fewer night sweats. However, this association was found to be negative or neutral among women with more frequent night sweats. No associations with memory performance were noted for total sleep time alone or in combination with night sweats.

“[The] results suggest that sleep duration was associated with improved attention and fluency in women without [night sweats], but that paradoxically women who experience [night sweats] may be vulnerable to prefrontal cortex deficits (i.e., decreased attention and executive function) as their sleep duration increases,” the researchers wrote.1

“This work presents novel insights into the influence of menopausal symptoms on cognitive performance among women with a history of breast cancer and raises the possibility that hot flash treatments could benefit cognition in these women through effects on sleep,” said lead study author John Bark, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, in a press release.2

—Christina Vogt

References:

  1. Bark JS, Fogel JS, Kilic E, et al. Cognitive dysfunction among women with a history of breast cancer experiencing frequent night sweats and longer sleep duration. Paper presented at: North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting; September 25-28, 2019; Chicago, IL.
  2. Menopausal night sweats linked with cognitive dysfunction [press release]. Cleveland, OH. North American Menopause Society. September 25, 2019. Accessed September 25, 2019.