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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Co-analysis of Brain Structure and Function using fMRI and Diffusion-weighted Imaging
Published on: November 8, 2012
Structural connectivity and weight loss in children with obesity: a study of the "connectobese"
Mireille J C M Augustijn1,2, Maria A Di Biase3,4,5, Andrew Zalesky3,4,6
1Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, 9000, Gent, Belgium. mireille.augustijn@ugent.be.
Insights
Childhood obesity is linked to altered brain network organization, particularly in motor and reward areas. Current treatments reduce weight but do not change these brain network differences.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Health
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Obesity in children may disrupt brain network organization.
- Investigating early brain differences in childhood obesity is crucial.
- Understanding if treatment impacts brain networks needs further study.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare structural brain connectomes in obese (OB) versus healthy weight (HW) children.
- Examine the effect of a multidisciplinary treatment program on brain network organization in children with obesity.
- Identify specific brain regions affected by childhood obesity.
Main Methods:
- Compared structural connectomes of 7-11 year old OB children with HW controls.
- Utilized graph theory and network-based statistics on MRI data.
- Assessed anthropometric measurements and brain scans pre- and post-treatment over 5 months.
Main Results:
- Obese children showed increased clustering coefficient and small-worldness.
- Regional analysis revealed altered network organization in motor and reward areas in obese children.
- Weight loss from treatment did not alter brain network organization.
Conclusions:
- This is the first study demonstrating disrupted structural brain connectomes in childhood obesity, affecting motor and reward networks.
- Findings offer insights into the pathophysiology of childhood obesity.
- Treatment led to weight loss but not brain network changes, suggesting further research on weight loss impact is needed.
Background:
Previous studies suggest that obesity (OB) is associated with disrupted brain network organization; however, it remains unclear whether these differences already exist during childhood. Moreover, it should be investigated whether deviant network organization may be susceptible to treatment.
Methods:
Here, we compared the structural connectomes of children with OB with age-matched healthy weight (HW) controls (aged 7-11 years). In addition, we examined the effect of a multidisciplinary treatment program, consisting of diet restriction, cognitive behavioral therapy, and physical activity for children with OB on brain network organization. After stringent quality assessment criteria, 40 (18 OB, 22 HW) data sets of the total sample of 51 participants (25 OB, 26 HW) were included in further analyses. For all participants, anthropometric measurements were administered twice, with a 5-month interval between pre- and post tests. Pre- and post T1- and diffusion-weighted imaging scans were also acquired and analyzed using a graph-theoretical approach and network-based statistics.
Results:
Global network analyses revealed a significantly increased normalized clustering coefficient and small-worldness in children with OB compared with HW controls. In addition, regional analyses revealed increased betweenness centrality, reduced clustering coefficient, and increased structural network strength in children with OB, mainly in the motor cortex and reward network. Importantly, children with OB lost a considerable amount of their body mass after the treatment; however, no changes were observed in the organization of their brain networks.
Conclusion:
This is the first study showing disrupted structural connectomes of children with OB, especially in the motor and reward network. These results provide new insights into the pathophysiology underlying childhood obesity. The treatment did result in a significant weight loss, which was however not associated with alterations in the brain networks. These findings call for larger samples to examine the impact of short-term and long-term weight loss (treatment) on children's brain network organization.
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