Study of relationship between obesity and executive functions among high school students in Bushehr, Iran

Abstract

BackgroundObesity is one of the most challenging problems of public health in the present century and can have some serious impacts on cognitive abilities in children and adolescents. This study has tried to investigate the relationship between obesity and executive functioning, particularly in planning- organizing and problem solving among a group of adolescents.MethodsSome 120 male high school students in the 15 to 18 year age range were included. BMI and executive functions were measured with validetes tools and tests in cases.ResultsThere is a significant difference between the executive functions such as planning-organizing and problem solving in obese, overweight and normal students.ConclusionsAccording to our results it seems the obese adolescents have poorer executive functions than normal weight peers. This is important for families and school staff to design and follow some therapeutic plans for weight reduction in adolescents in order to help them improve their skills in some functions such as planning-organizing and problem solving.

The Executive Functions in Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review of Neuropsychological Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies

“…Only nine studies had a higher proportion of males than females (Pignatti et al, 2006; Verdejo-García et al, 2010; Gentier et al, 2013; Mole et al, 2015; Qavam et al, 2015; Reyes et al, 2015; Alarcón et al, 2016; Tsai et al, 2016; Wu et al, 2017). Furthermore, Weller et al (2008) performed two different analyses to examine samples of males and females independently.…”

Entrenamiento en remediación cognitiva y habilidades emocionales en formato grupal para pacientes con obesidad. Un estudio piloto

“…Los défi cits en la toma de decisiones, la infl exibilidad cognitiva, la falta de atención al detalle y las difi cultades en la planifi cación y solución de problemas (Qavam et al, 2015), junto a las difi cultades emocionales para identifi car, describir, expresar y manejar las emociones propias y de los demás (Giel et al, 2016;Kittel et al, 2014), podrían explicar parte de los problemas encontrados en el tratamiento de los pacientes con obesidad, sobre todo en el mantenimiento del peso perdido una vez acabado el tratamiento.…”

“…Por ejemplo, teniendo en cuenta la difi cultad que estos pacientes presentan para inhibir la ingesta y frenar sus impulsos frente a los alimentos considerados «palatables» o apetitosos (Gionta, 1995) se ha llegado a conceptualizar la obesidad como una adicción a la comida (Gearhardt, Frilo, Dileone, Brownell, y Potenza, 2011). Otras investigaciones se han centrado en el estudio de las funciones ejecutivas y han demostrado que los pacientes con obesidad presentan problemas en la capacidad de tomar decisiones (Daniel, Stanton, y Epstein, 2013;Qavam, Anisan, Fathi, y Pourab, 2015), difi cultades para demorar la gratifi cación a corto plazo a pesar de las consecuencias que puedan existir a largo plazo (Perpiñá, Segura, y Sánchez, 2017), y difi cultades en la capacidad para planifi car y solucionar problemas (Qavam et al, 2015). Todos estos défi cits signifi can un obstáculo para la pérdida de peso y su mantenimiento, ya que cambiar los hábitos de ingesta y actividad implica, entre otros aspectos, ser capaz de cambiar las conductas en función de las consecuencias.…”

Cognitive Impairments and Associated Structural Brain Changes in Metabolic Syndrome and Implications of Neurocognitive Intervention

“… 2 - 4 Other challenges include the incidence of obesity and diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents, which has recently become a health concern. 5 , 6 …”

“…Currently, neurocognitive dysfunctions in patients with metabolic syndrome is an important issue associated with the disorder, however the issue has not been well addressed. 6 , 7 Therefore, in the present study, a literature search was performed to determine the structural brain changes in metabolic syndrome patients. Finally, after selecting the relevant studies, the relationship between metabolic systems, neurocognitive impairment, and brain structure in metabolic syndrome were the areas of particular focus.…”