Center for Brain Imaging, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University and Engineering Research Center of Molecular and Neuro Imaging, Ministry of Education, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710126, China.
International Joint Research Center for Advanced Medical Imaging and Intelligent Diagnosis and Treatment and Xi'an Key Laboratory of Intelligent Sensing and Regulation of Trans-Scale Life Information, School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710126, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Mar 21;33(7):3674-3682. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac300.
Childhood obesity has become a global health problem. Previous studies showed that childhood obesity is associated with brain structural differences relative to controls. However, few studies have been performed with longitudinal evaluations of brain structural developmental trajectories in childhood obesity. We employed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis to assess gray matter (GM) volume at baseline and 2-year follow-up in 258 obese children (OB) and 265 normal weight children (NW), recruited as part of the National Institutes of Health Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. Significant group × time effects on GM volume were observed in the prefrontal lobe, thalamus, right precentral gyrus, caudate, and parahippocampal gyrus/amygdala. OB compared with NW had greater reductions in GM volume in these regions over the 2-year period. Body mass index (BMI) was negatively correlated with GM volume in prefrontal lobe and with matrix reasoning ability at baseline and 2-year follow-up. In OB, Picture Test was positively correlated with GM volume in the left orbital region of the inferior frontal gyrus (OFCinf_L) at baseline and was negatively correlated with reductions in OFCinf_L volume (2-year follow-up vs. baseline). These findings indicate that childhood obesity is associated with GM volume reduction in regions involved with reward evaluation, executive function, and cognitive performance.
儿童肥胖已成为全球性健康问题。先前的研究表明，儿童肥胖与大脑结构与对照组相比存在差异。然而，对于儿童肥胖症的脑结构发育轨迹进行纵向评估的研究较少。我们采用基于体素的形态测量学（VBM）分析，评估了作为美国国立卫生研究院青少年大脑与认知发展研究的一部分招募的 258 名肥胖儿童（OB）和 265 名正常体重儿童（NW）在基线和 2 年随访时的灰质（GM）体积。在前额叶、丘脑、右侧中央前回、尾状核和海马旁回/杏仁核中观察到 GM 体积的显著组间×时间效应。与 NW 相比，OB 在这两个区域的 GM 体积在 2 年期间有更大的减少。体重指数（BMI）与额叶和基线及 2 年随访时的矩阵推理能力呈负相关。在 OB 中，图片测试与基线时左额下回眶部（OFCinf_L）的 GM 体积呈正相关，与 OFCinf_L 体积的减少呈负相关（2 年随访与基线相比）。这些发现表明，儿童肥胖与涉及奖励评估、执行功能和认知表现的脑区 GM 体积减少有关。
