Bariatric surgery and cognitive impairment

Bariatric surgery has been shown to improve cognition in patients with severe obesity. Bariatric surgery may improve mental function in patient populations with obesity and with cognitive impairment, including nonacquired, dementia, and traumatic brain injury, although studies have been limited. Bariatric surgery provides an opportunity to explore the effects of obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemias, and other expressions of metabolic syndrome on cognition. It offers the unusual opportunity to study patients with these chronic diseases and, later, those without them. This suggests the need for further studies into the effects of bariatric surgery on patient populations with obesity and with cognitive impairment to look at the effects of the continuing metabolic brain damage in people with severe obesity when earlier intervention could be considered.