Does hormone therapy affect attention and memory in sleep-deprived women?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether hormone therapy (HT) modifies cognitive performance during sleep deprivation in postmenopausal women. Comparison was made with a group of young women.


METHODS
Participants included 26 postmenopausal women (age 58-72 years, 16 HT users, 10 non-users), 11 young women (age 20-26 years). They spent four consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. Cognitive tests of attention, working memory, and verbal episodic memory were carried out after the baseline night, 25-h sleep deprivation, and recovery night.


RESULTS
Sleep deprivation impaired performance in all groups. It was manifested either as delayed practice effect or deteriorated performance (p < 0.05). In simple reaction time and 10-choice reaction time, non-users and young maintained their performance, whereas HT users suffered a minor impairment (p < 0.01). In other measurements, there was no interaction of group and condition. In 10-choice reaction time and vigilance, postmenopausal women made fewer errors and omissions than the young (p < 0.05). For most tasks, all groups showed improvement after one recovery night.


CONCLUSIONS
HT had a minor adverse effect on cognitive performance during sleep deprivation. Attention and memory deteriorated similarly in postmenopausal and young women, despite the lower initial performance level of postmenopausal women. One night of sleep ensured recovery in most tasks.
Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
P
P
Alhola
M
M
Kylmälä
A Sofia
AS
Urrila
M
M
Karakorpi
R
R
Portin
N
N
Kalleinen
P
P
Polo-Kantola
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology