title: Associations between obesity and cognition in the pre-school years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that obesity is associated with impaired cognitive outcomes in the pre-school years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Associations were examined between weight status at age 3-5 years and cognitive performance at age 5 years. Cognitive outcome measures were tests of pattern construction (visuospatial skills), naming vocabulary (expressive language skills), and picture similarity (reasoning skills). The sample was the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 12,349 participants).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Boys with obesity at 3 years had significantly lower performance in pattern construction at age 5 years compared to those of a healthy weight, even after controlling for confounders (β = -0.029, P = 0.03). Controlling for confounders, boys who developed obesity between the ages of 3 and 5 years had lower scores in pattern construction (β = -0.03, P = 0.03). "Growing out" of obesity had a positive association with picture similarity performance in girls (β = 0.03, P = 0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity in the pre-school years was associated with poorer outcomes for some cognitive measures in this study. Stronger relationships between obesity and cognition or educational attainment may emerge later in childhood.
authors.affiliation: Physical Activity for Health Group, School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Developmental Psychology in Education Group, Moray House School of Education, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland.
authors.forename: Josephine N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Booth
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Revie
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Boyter
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: Blair
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Phillip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tomporowski
authors.affiliation: Physical Activity for Health Group, School of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Reilly
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic