Table 1.

Relation between midlife reproductive stage and cognitive abilities in midlife cohorts

Midlife cohort, publication year	Number of women	Episodic memory	Other cognitive domains	Reference
Melbourne, Australia, 2003	326	NS	—	[56]
SWAN, United States, 2003	803	—	NS	[61]
Kinmen, Taiwan, 2006	495	NS	Most NSa	[64]
United Kingdom, 2006	997	NS	Slower visual searchb	[65]
Umea, Sweden, 2007	242	NS	NS	[66]
SWAN, United States, 2007 c	1657	NS	NS	[62]
SWAN, United States, 2009d	2362	NSe	NSe	[63]
Umea, Sweden, 2010f	193	NS	Variableg	[67]

^aReduced verbal fluency for women in the menopausal transition compared to premenopause; no differences on digit span forward, digit span backward, or the Trail Making Test, Parts A and B.

^bSlower letter cancellation in postmenopausal women.

^cIncludes women in [61].

^dIncludes women in [61] and [62].

^eNo significant effect or nonsignificant trend for cognitive differences (story recall, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Digit Span Backward) based on reproductive stage at time of baseline testing or for comparisons between postmenopause and premenopause. Nonsignificant trend (0.05 < p < 0.1) for reduced practice effect (lower rate of improvement) for story recall across annual visits in menopausal transition compared to premenopause; nonsignificant trend for reduced practice effect for the Symbol Digit Modalities Test for women in the late menopausal transition compared to premenopause.

^fIncludes women in [66].

^gAfter menopause, reduced practice effects for phonemic fluency and Block Design compared to before menopause. No practice effect differences for vocabulary.

NS = nonsignificant probability p > 0.05. SWAN = Study of Women’s health Across the Nation