After menopause surgery, examining women for adverse childhood experiences and affective traits such as depression and anxiety may reduce cognitive distress, a new study released in Menopause found.
The team of researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus racked up cognitive data of 552 women known to be carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.
The participants underwent assessments identifying executive cognitive function, early childhood adversities, and mood symptoms.
Among the participants who exhibited the most severe symptoms of executive cognitive dysfunction, in which assessments demonstrated poor cognitive performance, the presence of adverse childhood experiences was more evident.
Among the participants who exhibited the most severe symptoms of executive cognitive dysfunction, in which assessments demonstrated poor cognitive performance, were associated with adverse childhood experiences.
The results, researchers assert, could identify women who are at risk of exhibiting executive cognitive problems after surgical menopause by assessing childhood adversities and affective traits.
With these findings, researchers theorized that placing more attention on potential psychological distress during other forms of medical procedures would be of significant value.
The study, conducted at one of Colorado’s top-ranking universities, was funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and Basser Research Center in the Abramson Cancer Center.
