A number of factors could influence women with HIV's thinking skills.
Factors such as "hot flashes, depression, and most of all, anxiety" could cause the thinking skills in these individuals to take a hit, a North American Menopause Society (NAMS) news release reported.
The team looked at 708 HIV-infected and 278 HIV-uninfected midlife women to make their findings. About 52 percent of people infected with HIV and AIDS are between 40 and 54 years old, researchers are looking at how menopause affects them both mentally and physically.
"Whether, how, and when the process of transitioning through menopause affects cognition have been debated. Large-scale studies of healthy women indicate that the menopause-related thinking deficiencies are modest, limited to the time leading up to menopause ("perimenopause"), and rebound after menopause. But in these women who underwent mental skills testing, menopause symptoms and mood symptoms did affect thinking skills," the news release reported.
The team found "mental processing speed and verbal memory" were more related to depression and anxiety in both HIV-infected and healthy women; hot flashes were especially linked to lower mental processing skills and speeds.
Depression was linked with "decreased verbal memory, processing speed, and executive function" such as organizational skills.
Anxiety was found to have the largest impact on thinking skills and this impact took a larger toll on women with HIV. Women who suffered from anxiety displayed a decrease in verbal learning skills. The finding suggests treating women for anxiety could improve thinking skills.
"Unfortunately, HIV infection is associated with modest deficits in multiple domains of cognitive function, even in women who regularly take their HIV medications. These depression and anxiety symptoms add to those cognitive vulnerabilities, but can be treated," senior author and NAMS Board of Trustees President-Elect Pauline M. Maki, PhD, from the University of Illinois at Chicago said in the news release.
