An observational study in Perimenopause and Cognitive Function in Perimenopause, sponsored by Northumbria University. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to female participants aged 40 Years to 55 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-06-15.
Sponsored by Northumbria University · Observational
Perimenopause is when you have symptoms of menopause but your periods have not stopped. Brain-related changes are just one of the many symptoms that occur, and changes to memory and concentration ("brain fog") are frequently reported to be a challenge to those experiencing them. Diet is also understood to play an important role during menopause, however there is still more to learn about the direct impact of nutrition on brain-related symptoms associated with perimenopause. The aim of this research is to identify mental tasks capable of capturing perimenopause-related changes and to better understand how diet might account for differences in mental task performance.
The study will employ a cross-sectional design. Sixty participants will be recruited (30 participants will be recruited who report being severely affected by cognition-related/brain fog symptoms and 30 participants will be recruited who do not report being severely affected).
Interested participants will follow a link to the study information and consent and will then answer the eligibility questions, including questions about medication/supplementation. Participants are directed to contact the researchers before continuing should any of their answers suggest they may not be eligible to participate. Demographic data will be collected and participants will then complete the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), followed by the Brain Fog Scale (BFS) and a question asking specifically about how much they are currently affected by brain fog as a result of perimenopause. They will also complete a shortened version of the Adapted Muscle-Strengthening Exercise Questionnaire (A-MSEQ).
Following this participants will be auto directed by a separate link to Cognimapp (a web-based platform for cognitive and mood assessments that can be accessed via a mobile device) where they will complete a brief training session, after which they will complete a full run through of the cognitive tasks.
Once the cognitive tasks have been completed participants will be redirected to a second Qualtrics survey to complete the food frequency questionnaire (EPIC FFQ). Participants will then receive an online debrief and be redirected to a final questionnaire to capture their email address so that they may be compensated £20.
175 studies on the registry are indexed under Mental Fatigue; 54 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is below the median of 73 across 32 observational studies indexed under Mental Fatigue.
Browse Mental Fatigue studies →Northumbria University is the lead sponsor of 160 studies on the registry; 22 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Perimenopausal women aged 40-55 years who report being severely affected by cognitive symptoms/brain fog and those who do not report being severely affected.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Postmenopausal
Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
30 perimenopausal women aged 40-55 who report being severely affected by cognition-related/brain fog symptoms
30 perimenopausal women aged 40-55 who do not report being severely affected by cognition-related symptoms/brain fog.
Numeric working memory task % accuracy
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Numeric working memory task reaction time
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
3-back task % accuracy
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
3-back task reaction time
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
3-back task number of false alarms
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as number of errors with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Corsi blocks task score
Cognitive function - working memory task. Scored as level of difficulty reached (4 upwards), with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Alphabetic working memory task % accuracy
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Alphabetic working memory task reaction time
Cognitive function - working memory task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Word recognition % accuracy
Cognitive function - episodic memory. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Word recognition reaction time
Cognitive function - episodic memory. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Picture recognition % accuracy
Cognitive function - episodic memory. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Picture recognition reaction time
Cognitive function - episodic memory. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Stroop task % accuracy
Cognitive function - selective attention and inhibitory control task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Stroop task reaction time
Cognitive function - selective attention and inhibitory control task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Digit vigilance task % accuracy
Cognitive function - attention task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Digit vigilance task reaction time
Cognitive function - attention task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Digit vigilance number of false alarms
Cognitive function - attention task. Measured as number of errors with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Choice reaction time task % accuracy
Cognitive function - attention task. Measured as a percentage, with a higher score indicating better performance
Time frame: Baseline
Choice reaction time task reaction time
Cognitive function - attention task. Measured as correct reaction time (in milliseconds) with a lower score indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline
Menopause symptom severity
Severity of somatic, psychological and urogenital symptoms assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS; Hauser et al., 1994), an 11-item questionnaire rated on a 5-point Likert scale.
Time frame: Past 6 months
Brain fog severity
Self-reported brain fog assessed using the Brain Fog Scale (BFS; Debowska et al., 2024), a 23-item questionnaire rated on a 5-point Likert scale.
Time frame: Past 6 months
Plan to share: Yes — An anonymised dataset will be shared on this platform within the results section. Any information which may identify individual participants will be removed from the dataset before it is shared. Data will be shared in accordance with FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles. Participants will consent to the data being shared in this way.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan
Time frame: Data will be available 3 months after article publication and the data will be made accessible for up to 24 months. Extensions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Access criteria: Fully accessible
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Jun 2026; primary completion for Jul 2026, 1 month later.
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This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Jun 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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