Working memory in postmenstrual and premenstrual phase: effect of menstrual cycle

Background: Women experience physical and mental symptoms during the menstrual cycle, which has varied effect on working memory across different phases of menstrual cycle. With medical profession demanding high cognitive ability especially working memory for complex and urgent decision-making, this study to assess the working memory during postmenstrual and premenstrual phase was done on 40 healthy female interns.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, working memory was assessed with Self-Ordered Pointing test and Brown-Peterson task. Paired t test was carried out for comparison of working memory between the two phases.Results: On comparing the results of Self-Ordered Pointing test, numbers of errors were significantly higher (p=0.022) in postmenstrual phase (5.3±1.56) compared to premenstrual phase (4.3±1.15). Brown Peterson task showed the total number of letters recalled by the subjects was significantly lower (p=0.041) in postmenstrual phase (26.3±2.16) compared to premenstrual phase (27.2±2.44).Conclusion: The results indicated that the task performance for the working memory function was good in the premenstrual phase. With the previous evidences supporting the present study results, estrogen secreted in relation to the menstrual phase is thought to be involved in good working memory during premenstrual phase.