Study: Cognitive Effects of Bariatric Surgery

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This study, pointed out by BTV today, is testing the cognitive effects of weight loss associated with weight loss surgery.  Not the way you'd think, they're looking to see the POSITIVE changes.  Apparently cognitive decline is associated with obesity -- it's co-morbidities -- so weight loss should change the trend, and trigger some smarts?

I haven't heard/seen anyone complain of getting more wicked smahhhter post WLS!  Most complain of scatterbrains, memory problems and overall Can't Remember Shit.  *walks away from post*  What were we talking about?  ;)  Prove us WRONG!

PS.  Wouldn't I have loved to be in this study at the start? I'm totally excluded because I've already had WLS, and have developed some of the excluded disorders.  Doh.

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There is growing evidence that obesity is associated with adverse neurocognitive outcome. Recent studies demonstrate that elevated body mass index (BMI) is an independent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, structural brain abnormalities, and cognitive dysfunction in older adults. Preliminary work from our lab extends these findings and shows structural brain differences and cognitive dysfunction also exist in obese young and middle-aged adults.

Bariatric surgery is increasingly viewed as an effective intervention for morbid obesity, though its effects on cognition are unknown. Post-operative nutritional deficiencies are common and can adversely impact cognitive performance. However, substantial weight loss resolves or improves many medical conditions with reversible cognitive effects, suggesting bariatric surgery may provide cognitive benefits.

No study to date has examined the cognitive effects of bariatric surgery. To do so, the proposed study will prospectively assess cognitive performance in 125 bariatric surgery patients enrolled in the LABS project and 125 matched controls. Bariatric surgery patients will complete a computerized cognitive test battery at four time points: pre-operatively, 12 weeks post-operatively, 12 months post-operatively, and 24 months post-operatively.

Matched control participants will complete the test battery at similar intervals. Demographic, medical, and psychosocial information will be collected to elucidate possible mechanisms of change. We hypothesize that the substantial weight loss following bariatric surgery will be associated with improved cognitive performance.

Sponsors and Collaborators:	National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Columbia University Weill Medical College of Cornell University Kent State University Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Fargo, North Dakota
Information provided by:	National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00671775

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	25 Years to 70 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No
Sampling Method:	Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants will be recruited from the bariatric and weight loss programs of affiliated clinical centers.

Criteria

Specific criteria for bariatric surgery patients include:

Inclusion Criteria

• 25-65 years of age
• Enrolled in LABS project
• English-speaking

Exclusion Criteria

• History of neurological disorder or injury (e.g. dementia, stroke, seizures)
• Moderate or severe head injury (defined as >10 minutes loss of consciousness; Alexander, 1995)
• Past or current history of severe psychiatric illness (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder)
• Past or current history of alcohol or drug abuse (defined by DSM-IV criteria)
• History of learning disorder or developmental disability (defined by DSM-IV criteria)
• Impaired sensory function

Inclusion/exclusion criteria for matched control participants include:

• All of the inclusion/exclusion criteria for the surgical patients, except for enrollment in the LABS project
• No history of bariatric surgery procedures
• No interest in bariatric surgery procedures in the next two years
• Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00671775
  
  

• Contact: John Gunstad

• 330-672-2589

  jgunstad@kent.edu