Umayal CC¹
Sasirekha G²
Suganthapriya S³
Viji Devanand⁴
Niveditha P⁵

¹Professor and Head,
Department of Physiology,
Thiruvarur Medical College,
²Assistant Professor,
³Post Graduate
⁴Professor & HOD
⁵Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology,
Stanley Medical College,
Chennai-600 001.
Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

• Background: Obesity is abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that has adverse effects on health. Obese individuals are at risk of several life threatening diseases and complications such as Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, Metabolic syndrome, Cardiovascular diseases, Stroke, Cancers, and Psychosocial disorders. Apart from these, it also leads to neurological disorders like impairment in cognition, motor skills and higher executive functions.
• Aim: To assess the cognition in young adult obese males.
• Materials and Methods: 80 male participants of which 40 obese males and 40 normal weight healthy subjects in the age group of 18 to 35 years were recruited from the Non Communicable Disease Outpatient Department, Body Mass Index(BMI),Waist Circumference(WC) and Waist Hip Ratio(WHR) were the obesity indices used to assess the obesity. Montréal Cognitive Assessment Score (MoCA score) was used to assess the cognition.
• Results: The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS) version 20. The study group were with the mean age of 34.02 + 3.20 yrs, mean BMI of 32.06 +3.47,mean WHR of 0.86 + 0.08, mean WC of 98.37 +5.35 and mean MoCA score of 26.09+0.49.Among the study group 28% of the participants had cognitive impairment with the score between 23-25. Negative correlation was observed between the obesity indices and MoCA score, among which BMI had better negative correlation with the MoCA score.
• Conclusion: Cognition was impaired in obese individuals and it was inversely related to the obesity indices. This shows that they are at the risk for early onset of dementia. Hence, early diagnosis and appropriate interventions may prevent severe impairment in cognition in obese individuals.

Keywords: obesity, cognition, dementia, metabolic syndrome