Bariatric surgery could improve brain function in people with obesity

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-02-10 03:00

International

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People with obesity who get bariatric surgery to help with weight loss could see long-term improvement in their brain function, according to international research. The team monitored the health, activity and brain function of 133 people with obesity who had bariatric surgery over a 2-year period. They say while the participants overall had good scores when testing their brain function before surgery, just over two in five saw at least a 20% improvement on that score two years after their surgery, with attention and verbal fluency the most likely to improve. The researchers say brain scans showed physical evidence of changes in brain function as well.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: The findings of this study including 133 adults with severe obesity suggest that bariatric surgery was associated with health benefits two years after surgery. Bariatric surgery was associated with improved cognition and general health and changed blood vessel efficiency and cortical thickness of the temporal cortex. These results may improve treatment options for patients with obesity and dementia.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Radboud University Medical Center, The Netherlands

Funder: Thisworkwas supported by a Rijnstate-Radboudumc Promotion Fund grant. Plasma biomarker analyseswere conducted with funds of TNO research programs ERP-Body-Brain Interactions and PMC-Functional Biomarkers. Dr Mutsaerts is supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation (grant No. 03-004-2020-T049); Eurostars-2 Joint Programme with cofunding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant No. ASPIRE E!113701), provided by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency; and EU Joint Program for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, provided by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development and Alzheimer Nederland (grant No. DEBBIE JPND2020-568-106). No other disclosures were reported.

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