Does Cognitive Aging Begin Earlier for Women Than Previously Thought?

A recent study found evidence of cognitive aging during midlife in women, with substantial declines in processing speed.

The study included 2124 women from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, with the majority of participants being postmenopausal and the average age being 54. Women completed annual tests for processing speed, verbal episodic memory (immediate and delayed), and working memory. The median follow-up length was 6.5 years.
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Researchers used the third cognitive test as the baseline to reduce the impact of practice effects and of menopause transition on the data for determining cognitive decline.

“In mixed effects regression, adjusted for practice effects, retention, menopause symtoms (depressive, anxiety, vasomotor, and sleep disturbance), and covariates, scores on 2 of 4 cognition tests declined,” the researchers stated.

The mean decline of cognitive speed was 0.28 per year and 4.9% in 10 years. The mean decline in verbal episodic memory was 0.02 per year and 2% in 10 years.

Their findings indicated longitudinal declines in cognitive performance in midlife women, primarily in processing speed. “A decline in processing speed in midlife is not a harbinger of declines in other domains of functioning” the researchers stated. “There are individual differences in cognitive aging, and resilience and compensatory mechanisms can ameliorate the impact of cognitive aging on functioning and well-being.”

In addition, the researchers recommended that additional studies examine factors that influence differential rates of decline in cognitive performance in order to develop interventions that would slow cognitive aging.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Karlamangla AS, Lachman ME, Han W, Huang M, and Greendale GA. Evidence of cognitive aging in midlife women: study of women’s health across the nation [published online January 3, 2017]. PloS One. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169008.