1. Differences in Brain Volume between Metabolically Healthy and Unhealthy Overweight and Obese Children : The Role of Fitness
- Author
-
Andrés Catena, Cristina Cadenas-Sanchez, Juan Verdejo-Román, Kirk I. Erickson, José Maldonado, Irene Esteban-Cornejo, Pontus Henriksson, Idoia Labayen, Jairo H. Migueles, Francisco B. Ortega, Arthur F. Kramer, Jose Mora-Gonzalez, José Gómez-Vida, Charles H. Hillman, and Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa. ISFOOD - Institute on Innovation & Sustainable Development in Food Chain
- Subjects
global volume ,Global volume ,regional volume ,Physiology ,lcsh:Medicine ,Academic achievement ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Overweight ,Pediatrics ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Regional volume ,medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Cardiorespiratory fitness ,Gray matter ,Shuttle run test ,cardiorespiratory fitness ,business.industry ,lcsh:R ,academic achievement ,gray matter ,Pediatrik ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Brain size ,medicine.symptom ,Metabolic syndrome ,business - Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine whether metabolically healthy overweight/obese children have greater global and regional gray matter volumes than their metabolically unhealthy peers. We further examined the association between gray matter volume and academic achievement, along with the role of cardiorespiratory fitness in these associations. A total of 97 overweight/obese children (10.0 ±, 1.2 years) participated. We classified children as metabolically healthy/unhealthy based on metabolic syndrome cut-offs. Global and regional brain volumes were assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Academic achievement was assessed using the Woodcock-Muñ, oz standardized test. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the 20 m shuttle run test. Metabolically healthy overweight/obese (MHO) children had greater regional gray matter volume compared to those who were metabolically unhealthy (MUO) (all p &le, 0.001). A similar trend was observed for global gray matter volume (p = 0.06). Global gray matter volume was positively related to academic achievement (&beta, = 0.237, p = 0.036). However, all the associations were attenuated or disappeared after adjusting for cardiorespiratory fitness (p >, 0.05). The findings of the present study support that metabolically healthy overweight/obese children have greater gray matter volume compared to those that are metabolically unhealthy, which is in turn related to better academic achievement. However, cardiorespiratory fitness seems to explain, at least partially, these findings.
- Published
- 2020