Abstract
Background
Obesity is associated with an accelerated cognitive decline. Aerobic fitness has a
protective effect on cognition in older adults, but no study has investigated this
effect in obese individuals. The present study aimed to 1) compare cognitive function
in lower-fit (LoFit) and higher-fit (HiFit) obese individuals compared with nonobese
individuals, and 2) examine the association between exercise variables (including
hemodynamic variables) and cognitive function in obese individuals.
Methods
Fifty-four obese and 16 nonobese individuals performed a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise
test (with gas exchange analysis and noninvasive hemodynamic measurement) and cognitive
tests assessing short-term and working memory, processing speed, executive function,
and long-term verbal memory. Obese individuals were divided into 2 groups according
to their median aerobic fitness divided by lean body mass to form a group of LoFit
obese (n = 27) and a group of HiFit obese (n = 27) individuals.
Results
A total of 14 nonobese individuals and 49 obese individuals were included in the final
analysis (HiFit: n = 26, LoFit: n = 23). Compared with LoFit obese, HiFit obese participants
had greater performances in executive function (P = 0.002) and short-term memory (P = 0.02). Nonobese and HiFit obese participants showed equivalent performances in
all domains of cognition. In obese individuals, aerobic fitness was the only independent
predictor for short-term memory (R2 = 0.24; P < 0.001), working memory (R2 = 0.16; P = 0.02), processing speed (R2 = 0.22; P = 0.01), and executive function (R2 = 0.49; P = 0.003), but not for long-term verbal memory (R2 = 0.15; P = 0.26).
Conclusions
HiFit obese individuals showed greater short-term memory and executive function performances
compared with LoFit obese individuals, suggesting that aerobic fitness could help
preserve cognitive function despite the presence of obesity.
Résumé
Introduction
L’obésité est associée à un déclin cognitif accéléré. L’aptitude aérobie a un effet
protecteur sur la cognition des personnes âgées, mais aucune étude n’a montré cet
effet chez les individus obèses. La présente étude avait pour but de : 1) comparer
les performances cognitives des individus obèses en moins bonne forme physique (LoFit,
de l’anglais lower-fit) et en meilleure forme physique (HiFit, de l’anglais higher-fit) aux individus non obèses; 2) d’examiner l’association entre les variables physiques
(y compris les variables hémodynamiques) et les performances cognitives chez les individus
obèses.
Méthodes
Cinquante-quatre individus obèses et 16 individus non obèses ont effectué une épreuve
d’effort cardiopulmonaire maximal (avec analyse des échanges gazeux et mesures hémodynamiques
non invasives) et des épreuves cognitives évaluant la mémoire à court terme et de
travail, la vitesse de traitement, la fonction exécutive et la mémoire verbale à long
terme. Nous avons réparti les individus obèses en 2 groupes selon la médiane de l'aptitude
aérobie divisée par la masse corporelle maigre pour former un groupe d’individus obèses
en moins bonne forme physique (LoFit, n = 27) et un groupe d’individus obèses en meilleure
forme physique (HiFit, n = 27).
Résultats
Nous avons inclus un total de 14 individus non obèses et 49 individus obèses dans
l’analyse finale (HiFit : n = 26, LoFit : n = 23). Comparativement aux participants
obèses en moins bonne forme physique, les participants obèses en meilleure forme physique
avaient de meilleures performances dans la fonction exécutive (P = 0,002) et dans la mémoire à court terme (P = 0,02). Les participants non obèses et les participants obèses en meilleure forme
physique montraient des performances équivalentes dans toutes les sphères de la cognition.
Chez les individus obèses, l’aptitude aérobie était le seul prédicteur indépendant
de la mémoire à court terme (R2 = 0,24; P < 0,001), de la mémoire de travail (R2 = 0,16; P = 0,02), de la vitesse de traitement (R2 = 0,22; P = 0,01) et de la fonction exécutive (R2 = 0,49; P = 0,003), mais non de la mémoire verbale à long terme (R2 = 0,15; P = 0,26).
Conclusions
Les individus obèses en meilleure forme physique montraient de meilleures performances
dans la mémoire à court terme et dans la fonction exécutive que les individus obèses
en moins bonne forme physique. Ces constatations montrent que l’aptitude aérobie pourrait
contribuer à préserver les performances cognitives en dépit de la présence de l’obésité.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 16, 2020
Accepted:
January 6,
2020
Received:
October 7,
2019
Footnotes
See editorial by Middleton, pages 1703–1705 of this issue.
See page 1752 for disclosure information.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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