title: Preliminary evidence of cognitive and brain abnormalities in uncomplicated adolescent obesity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To ascertain whether pediatric obesity without clinically significant insulin resistance (IR) impacts brain structure and function.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty obese and 30 matched lean adolescents, all without clinically significant IR or a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS), received comprehensive endocrine, neuropsychological, and MRI evaluations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative to lean adolescents, obese non-IR adolescents had significantly lower academic achievement (i.e., arithmetic and spelling) and tended to score lower on working memory, attention, psychomotor efficiency, and mental flexibility. In line with our prior work on adolescent MetS, memory was unaffected in uncomplicated obesity. Reductions in the thickness of the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices as well as reductions of microstructural integrity in major white matter tracts without gross volume changes were also uncovered.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was documented, for the first time, that adolescents with uncomplicated obesity already have subtle brain alterations and lower performance in selective cognitive domains. When interpreting these preliminary data in the context of our prior reports of similar, but more extensive brain findings in obese adolescents with MetS and T2DM, it was concluded that "uncomplicated" obesity may also result in subtle brain alterations, suggesting a possible dose effect with more severe metabolic dysregulation giving rise to greater abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Po Lai
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Yau
authors.forename: Esther H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Javier
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Convit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D007360:Intelligence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055815:Young Adult