"According to a new study women experiencing difficulty with time management attention organization memory and problem solving  often referred to as executive functions  related to menopause may find improvement with a drug already being used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD. The study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is the first to show that lisdexamfetamine LDX improved subjective and objective measures of cognitive decline commonly experienced in menopausal women. Results of the study are published online today in the journal Psychopharmacology. Reports of cognitive decline particularly in executive functions are widespread among menopausal women said lead author C. Neill Epperson MD professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Penn Center for Womens Behavioral Wellness. There are approximately  million postmenopausal women living in the US alone and with the average age of onset occurring at  the great majority of those women will live in the postmenopausal state for at least onethird of their lives. Therefore promoting healthy cognitive aging among menopausal women should be a major public health goal. The Pennled team administered a oncedaily dose of LDX for four weeks to  healthy nonADHDdiagnosed women between the ages of  and  experiencing difficulties with executive functions as a result of midlife onset menopause and as measured using the Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale BADDS. All participants served as their own controls by being randomly assigned to crossover to a placebo for an additional four weeks. The researchers found a  percent overall improvement in executive functions for women receiving LDX compared to a  percent improvement when taking placebo medication. There were also significant improvements in four out of the five subscales for women taking LDX organization and motivation for work attention and concentration alertness effort and processing speed and working memory and accessing recall. While psychostimulants such as LDX are primarily marketed for the treatment of ADHD they have been successful in treating cognitive complaints in some patients including postmenopausal women. They work by promoting the release of dopamine which is impaired in ADHD and other disorders characterized by executive function problems. Although we observed that shortterm use of LDX was well tolerated and effective in several subjective and objective areas longterm studies of menopausal women receiving LDX are needed similar to those conducted for ADHD patients said Epperson. It is also important for clinicians to confirm that a womans complaints of worsening memory are in the executive function domains are temporally related to the transition to menopause and are not indicative of some other pathological cognitive impairment before prescribing a trial of LDX. In addition to Epperson other Penn coauthors are Sheila Shanmugan Deborah R. Kim Sarah Mathews Kathryn A. Czarkowski Jeanette Bradley Dina H. Appleby Claudia Iannelli and Mary D. Sammel. This project was funded in part by Shire Pharmaceuticals the National Institute of Mental Health the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Penn Medicine is one of the worlds leading academic medical centers dedicated to the related missions of medical education biomedical research and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania founded in  as the nations first medical school and the University of Pennsylvania Health System which together form a . billion enterprise.  The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past  years according to U.S. News  World Reports survey of researchoriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nations top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health with  million awarded in the  fiscal year.  The University of Pennsylvania Health Systems patient care facilities include The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania  recognized as one of the nations top Honor Roll hospitals by U.S. News  World Report Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Chester County Hospital Penn Wissahickon Hospice and Pennsylvania Hospital  the nations first hospital founded in . Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.  Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of communitybased programs and activities. In fiscal year  Penn Medicine provided  million to benefit our community.  Disclaimer AAAS and EurekAlert are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system."