Obesity and Gray Matter Volume Assessed by Neuroimaging: A Systematic Review

Obesity has become a major public and individual health problem due to its high worldwide prevalence and its relation with comorbid conditions. According to previous studies, obesity is related to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. This systematic review aims to further examine the present state of the art about the association between obesity and gray matter volume (GMV) as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A search was conducted in Pubmed, SCOPUS and Cochrane of those studies released before 1 February 2021 including MRIs to assess the GMVs in obese participants. From this search, 1420 results were obtained, and 34 publications were finally included. Obesity was mainly measured by the body mass index, although other common types of evaluations were used (e.g., waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and plasma leptin levels). The selected neuroimaging analysis methods were voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and cortical thickness (CT), finding 21 and 13 publications, respectively. There were 30 cross-sectional and 2 prospective longitudinal studies, and 2 articles had both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Most studies showed a negative association between obesity and GMV. This would have important public health implications, as obesity prevention could avoid a potential risk of GMV reductions, cognitive impairment and dementia.