The Effect of Diabetes on Cognition in Pre, Peri, and Post-Menopausal Middle-Aged Women

Diabetes is not commonly thought to be a women’s health issue, however, it appears to have an association with increased cognitive impairment in women during menopause (Coker, 2003). This study will investigate the effect of type II diabetes and menopause on cognition in women between the ages of 45 and 55 years old. To assess cognition, participants will perform the Repeated Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS; Randolph 1998), Letter-Number Sequencing Test (Wechsler, 1997), Trails Making Test (Delis, 2001), Verbal Fluency Test (Delis, 2001), Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (Wechsler, 2001), and the Buschke Selective Reminding Test (Buschke, 1974). They will also answer questionnaires on mood, diabetes, and menopause. It is predicted that women with diabetes will score lower on all tests, with an emphasis on difficulties with executive function and memory. While previous studies have examined the effect of diabetes in older, postmenopausal women, none have assessed cognition in women with diabetes who are premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal and in a small age range compared to similar aged women without diabetes. This will allow for the initial understanding of cognitive decline, if any, in middle-aged women with and without diabetes