OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effect of pediatric obesity on executive function and reward-related decision-making, cognitive processes that are relevant to obesogenic behaviors, and evaluated their association with sample (e.g., age, gender, intelligence, and socioeconomic status, SES) and study/task (e.g., categorical/continuous variable, food stimuli) characteristics. METHODS: A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using Hedge's g effect sizes of published studies from 1960 to 2016, limited to children younger than the age of 21 years without medical comorbidities. Analysis included estimation of heterogeneity (τ2), publication bias (funnel-plot symmetry and fail-safe N), and sensitivity analyses for sample and study/task characteristics. RESULTS: Across 68 studies with 70 samples, obesity was associated with worse functioning overall (-0.24; 95CI: -0.30 to -0.19; p < 0.001) and for each component process (attention, switching, inhibition, interference, working memory, reward, delay of gratification: -0.19 to -0.38; p's < 0.017), except trait impulsivity (-0.06; 95CI: -0.18 to 0.07). Deficits increased with age and female composition of the sample for inhibition (p = 0.002). No other characteristics moderated effect of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Small-to-moderate negative associations with obesity were observed for executive and reward-related performance, but not on reported impulsivity in studies with children younger than the age of 21 years. These results were not moderated by IQ, SES, and study/task characteristics. Age and gender moderated association with inhibition, with a larger obesity-related deficit in older and predominantly female samples. These results suggest cognitive and demographic intervention targets for prevention and mitigation of obesogenic behavior.
OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effect of pediatric obesity on executive function and reward-related decision-making, cognitive processes that are relevant to obesogenic behaviors, and evaluated their association with sample (e.g., age, gender, intelligence, and socioeconomic status, SES) and study/task (e.g., categorical/continuous variable, food stimuli) characteristics. METHODS: A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using Hedge's g effect sizes of published studies from 1960 to 2016, limited to children younger than the age of 21 years without medical comorbidities. Analysis included estimation of heterogeneity (τ2), publication bias (funnel-plot symmetry and fail-safe N), and sensitivity analyses for sample and study/task characteristics. RESULTS: Across 68 studies with 70 samples, obesity was associated with worse functioning overall (-0.24; 95CI: -0.30 to -0.19; p < 0.001) and for each component process (attention, switching, inhibition, interference, working memory, reward, delay of gratification: -0.19 to -0.38; p's < 0.017), except trait impulsivity (-0.06; 95CI: -0.18 to 0.07). Deficits increased with age and female composition of the sample for inhibition (p = 0.002). No other characteristics moderated effect of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Small-to-moderate negative associations with obesity were observed for executive and reward-related performance, but not on reported impulsivity in studies with children younger than the age of 21 years. These results were not moderated by IQ, SES, and study/task characteristics. Age and gender moderated association with inhibition, with a larger obesity-related deficit in older and predominantly female samples. These results suggest cognitive and demographic intervention targets for prevention and mitigation of obesogenic behavior.
Authors: Antonio Verdejo-García; Manuel Pérez-Expósito; Jacqueline Schmidt-Río-Valle; Maria J Fernández-Serrano; Francisco Cruz; Miguel Pérez-García; Gemma López-Belmonte; Miguel Martín-Matillas; Jose A Martín-Lagos; Ascension Marcos; Cristina Campoy Journal: Obesity (Silver Spring) Date: 2010-01-07 Impact factor: 5.002
Authors: Amanda S Bruce; Rebecca J Lepping; Jared M Bruce; J Bradley C Cherry; Laura E Martin; Ann M Davis; William M Brooks; Cary R Savage Journal: J Pediatr Date: 2012-12-01 Impact factor: 4.406
Authors: L van den Berg; K Pieterse; J A Malik; M Luman; K Willems van Dijk; J Oosterlaan; H A Delemarre-van de Waal Journal: Int J Obes (Lond) Date: 2011-06-21 Impact factor: 5.095
Authors: Keita Kamijo; Matthew B Pontifex; Naiman A Khan; Lauren B Raine; Mark R Scudder; Eric S Drollette; Ellen M Evans; Darla M Castelli; Charles H Hillman Journal: Cereb Cortex Date: 2012-11-11 Impact factor: 5.357
Authors: Andrea B Goldschmidt; Kathryn E Smith; Jason M Lavender; Scott G Engel; Alissa Haedt-Matt Journal: J Psychiatr Res Date: 2018-12-15 Impact factor: 4.791
Authors: Meghan E Byrne; Marian Tanofsky-Kraff; Jason M Lavender; Megan N Parker; Lisa M Shank; Taylor N Swanson; Eliana Ramirez; Sarah LeMay-Russell; Shanna B Yang; Sheila M Brady; Anna Zenno; Krishna Karthik Chivukula; Nichole R Kelly; Jack A Yanovski Journal: Int J Eat Disord Date: 2021-01-27 Impact factor: 5.791
Authors: Nichole R Kelly; Manuela Jaramillo; Sophie Ramirez; Deborah R Altman; Sarah G Rubin; Shanna B Yang; Amber B Courville; Lisa M Shank; Meghan E Byrne; Sarah Lemay-Russell; Sheila M Brady; Miranda M Broadney; Marian Tanofsky-Kraff; Jack A Yanovski Journal: Pediatr Obes Date: 2020-02-09 Impact factor: 3.910
Authors: Bee Koon Poh; Shoo Thien Lee; Giin Shang Yeo; Kean Choon Tang; Ab Rahim Noor Afifah; Awal Siti Hanisa; Panam Parikh; Jyh Eiin Wong; Alvin Lai Oon Ng Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2019-06-13 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Felipe Caamaño-Navarrete; Pedro Á Latorre-Román; Juan A Párraga-Montilla; Cristian Álvarez; Pedro Delgado-Floody Journal: Nutrients Date: 2021-05-25 Impact factor: 5.717
Authors: Brian E Saelens; Susan J Melhorn; Maya G Rowland; Kelley Scholz; Mary Rosalynn B De Leon; Clinton T Elfers; Ellen A Schur; Christian L Roth Journal: Child Obes Date: 2021-08-05 Impact factor: 2.867