Memory Loss and the Signs of Menopause It is often assumed that memory loss is one of the signs of menopause. New research is suggesting, however, that while symptoms such as hot flashes or mood swings can be the result of perimenopause and menopause, memory loss is not one of these symptoms. A study done by Taiwanese scientists looked at the cognitive capabilities of hundreds of women both prior to and after menopause began. Their specific interest was the memory of these women. The results of their study showed that women undergoing menopause scored as high or nearly as high on 5 separate tests of cognitive function. This new finding suggests that memory loss is not to be considered one of the signs of menopause. "When women go into perimenopause, they don't need to worry about cognitive decline," said one of the scientists responsible for the study, Dr. Jong-Ling Fuh, who is an attending physician at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital as well as an associate professor at the Yang-Ming University School of Medicine. Although there is a common perception that one of the signs of menopause is memory loss, this just doesn't seem to be the case. Some studies have backed up this assertion by saying that treatments such as Hormone Replacement Therapy might actually decrease chances of dementia. More recent studies have found though that HRT and other such treatments might in fact increase the risk of demementia rather than decrease it. To perform the study, 700 women living in a group of islands that lies between mainland China and the island nation of Taiwan were selected. Because there was limited access to these islands until very recently, the population was nearly homogeneous, disallowing potential genetic factors to unduly influence the results of the study. All of the women selected were between 40 and 54 years old. No women were chosen that had had a hysterectomy or that were undertaking Hormone Replacement Therapy. At the beginning of the study, all the women undertook 5 separate tests to examine cognitive and memory skills. The subjects then took the tests again 18 months later. During the course of this 18 months, 23% of the women began experiencing signs of menopause. After running the tests for a second time, the results of those who had begun to experience the signs of menopause were compared with those that had not. On the whole, very little difference was seen between these two groups. There was no statistically significant difference in the scores of the two groups of women. There was one test, however, where there was a statisticall significant different between the two groups, although even here the difference was quite small. This was a single test on verbal memory skills. "For women, menopause does not mean you'll develop memory loss," said another of the researchers, Dr. Raina Ernstoff, who is an attending neurologist at the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. "As you're going through perimenopause and experiencing symptoms like hot flashes, you may feel lousy and have trouble sleeping, which might temporarily affect your cognitive skills." "I don't think declining estrogen levels are what causes memory loss," Dr. Steven Goldstein said. Dr. Goldstein is a gynecologist/obsetetrictian work at New York University's Medical Center in New York City. "It's not like your memory is bopping along, doing fine and then takes this big dive during menopause, like bone density can." Neither Ernstoff nor Goldstein knew of very many women who attributed memory loss to being one of the signs of menopause. They both although felt that the homogeneity of the group studied in this test might actually mean that the information cannot be applied to other groups of women. Numerous factors can attribute to loss of memory, including hypertension, and these can also contribute to the development of what is known as vascular dementia. As a final note, Dr. Ernstoff wished to point out that one factor to also consider is educational background. Educational differences may play a very large role in memory loss.