Victoria Sweat1, Kathy F Yates1,2, Renee Migliaccio1, Antonio Convit1,2,3,4. 1. 1 Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine , New York, NY. 2. 2 Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research , Orangeburg, NY. 3. 3 Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine , New York, NY. 4. 4 Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine , New York, NY.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity and obesity-associated diabetes and metabolic syndrome (MetS) continue to rise. Obesity has been linked to structural and functional brain abnormalities, particularly in the frontal lobe. METHODS: One hundred sixty-two adolescents (aged 19.53 ± 1.53 years) underwent medical, neurocognitive, and brain magnetic resonance imaging assessments. Participants were either healthy weight (BMI <25.0 kg/m2 or BMI percentile <85%) or obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2 or BMI percentile ≥95%). We evaluated frontal lobe cognitive functions and the size of the corpus callosum (CC). RESULTS: Groups differed on four measures of processing speed contained in four different cognitive tests, but not on executive function. A confirmatory factor analysis verified that the significant processing speed variables loaded on the same factor. We also found differences between the weight groups on the area of the anterior portion of the CC, but not the overall CC. Only the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) was significantly correlated with the area of the anterior portion of the CC. In the obese group, 32.4% met criteria for MetS. No differences were found between obese participants with or without MetS and none of the MetS factors contributed consistently to cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS: Obese adolescents show slower cognitive processing speed while maintaining equivalent performance on executive functioning compared with their healthy weight peers. The group differences in the anterior portion of the CC, responsible for frontal lobe interhemispheric communication, may in part explain our processing speed findings. Future studies should include a longitudinal design and diffusion tensor imaging to examine the integrity of white matter.
BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity and obesity-associated diabetes and metabolic syndrome (MetS) continue to rise. Obesity has been linked to structural and functional brain abnormalities, particularly in the frontal lobe. METHODS: One hundred sixty-two adolescents (aged 19.53 ± 1.53 years) underwent medical, neurocognitive, and brain magnetic resonance imaging assessments. Participants were either healthy weight (BMI <25.0 kg/m2 or BMI percentile <85%) or obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2 or BMI percentile ≥95%). We evaluated frontal lobe cognitive functions and the size of the corpus callosum (CC). RESULTS: Groups differed on four measures of processing speed contained in four different cognitive tests, but not on executive function. A confirmatory factor analysis verified that the significant processing speed variables loaded on the same factor. We also found differences between the weight groups on the area of the anterior portion of the CC, but not the overall CC. Only the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) was significantly correlated with the area of the anterior portion of the CC. In the obese group, 32.4% met criteria for MetS. No differences were found between obeseparticipants with or without MetS and none of the MetS factors contributed consistently to cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS:Obese adolescents show slower cognitive processing speed while maintaining equivalent performance on executive functioning compared with their healthy weight peers. The group differences in the anterior portion of the CC, responsible for frontal lobe interhemispheric communication, may in part explain our processing speed findings. Future studies should include a longitudinal design and diffusion tensor imaging to examine the integrity of white matter.
Entities:
Keywords:
cognition; corpus callosum; obesity; processing speed
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