الفهرس 
Chapter 1Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Plasma level of sex hormones is expected to affect
different aspects of cognition in postmenopausal females and increase risk of
dementia in women than in men. Objective: to assess the relation between
estrogen and progesterone levels and cognition in postmenopausal females.
Methods: Seventy subjects (30 postmenopausal females, and 40
premenopausal females) were subjected to the following: thorough history,
medical and neurological examination, full routine laboratory investigations,
serum estrogen and progesterone level, a battery of neuropsychological tests
including MMSE, Beck’s questionnaire for depression, Digit span forward
and backward of Wechsler, Benton visual retention test, picture completion
and picture arrangement from Wechsler, paired associate learning test, word
recognition test, verbal fluency test. Results: Mean estrogen and
progesterone levels in post-menopausal females were 14.58 ± 10.12 pg/ml
and 0.72 ± 0.21 ng/ml respectively. whereas their levels in premenopausal
females were 190.7 ± 91.18 pg/ml and 6.25 ± 5.21 ng/ml respectively. No
significant difference between post-menopausal and premenopausal females
as regards all tests done except for a significant decrease in the results of
paired associate-learning test which measures verbal memory. Positive
significant correlation between estrogen level and verbal memory in
postmenopausal females. Progesterone level showed non significant
correlation with all neuropsychological tests in postmenopausal females.
Positive correlation between age of onset of menopause and different tests
but with no significant value except for test of verbal memory, whereas
negative correlation between years of menopausal period and results of all
tests with no significant value. Conclusion: Postmenopausal females had
worse performance in different domains of cognition, so early and repeated
assessment of cognition in this period is recommended. Also the use of
hormonal replacement in postmenopausal period should be investigated.
Keywords:
Estrogen, progesterone, cognitive function, postmenopausal
females