Bariatric surgery can bring other health benefits besides weight loss in people with obesity. According to a study published in JAMA Network Open this month, the procedure can also improve cognitive function, improving memory and attention.
A search included 133 participants, aged between 35 and 55, with an average age of almost 47 years. About 80% of people were women. To conduct the study, researchers used neuropsychological tests, MRI scans and laboratory tests to assess cognition at baseline and then 6 months and 24 months after bariatric surgery.
Participants' weight data was collected using body weight, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and percentage of total body weight loss.
According to the researchers, the results of the study showed that 11% of participants showed an improvement in working memory; 31% demonstrated improvement in episodic memory; 24% showed better verbal fluency; 40% managed to improve attention, and 43% improved global cognition.
Furthermore, researchers also reported that a neuroimaging examination of the temporal lobe showed changes in the structure in many patients. According to the scientists, the temporal cortex – involved in processes such as memory, language and object recognition and vision and sound processing – showed greater cortical thickness after surgery and remained that way during the two-year follow-up.
Finally, the study also showed that blood pressure was significantly lower in the six and 24 months after surgery. The use of medications for comorbidity was also substantially lower in the first year after the procedure.
The work has some limitations: the research did not include a control group, which makes it difficult to conclude whether the changes actually occurred due to bariatric surgery or whether it was just an observational relationship. Another limitation is that the majority of participants were women and, therefore, the results cannot be generalized to the entire population. Therefore, more studies are needed to support these findings.
Source: CNN Brasil
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