Association of Heart Rate Variability and NeuroCognitive Performance Among Metabolically Healthy Obese Adults:...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cardiology
• Metabolic Health

Background:

• Obesity is associated with autonomic nervous system dysfunction and cognitive impairment.
• Quantitative links between obesity, autonomic function, and cognition require further exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify neurocognitive signatures and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters in relation to increasing body weight among metabolically healthy obese individuals.
• To identify analytical predictors for cognitive health in obesity.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study with 101 participants (71 metabolically healthy obese/overweight, 30 controls).
• Assessed neurocognitive function (MMSE, MoCA), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and HRV.
• Analyzed associations between body mass index (BMI), HRV indices (HF band, SDNN), and BDNF levels.

Main Results:

• Metabolically healthy obese participants showed significant differences in neurocognitive performance and HRV compared to controls.
• Increased BMI was negatively associated with BDNF and high-frequency (HF) HRV.
• Higher BMI correlated with a decline in HF band (vagal tone) and showed associations with standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN).

Conclusions:

• Heart rate variability (HRV) serves as a potential early, non-invasive indicator for future cognitive decline in individuals with metabolically healthy obesity.
• Findings highlight the impact of obesity on autonomic function and neurotrophic factors, suggesting HRV as a valuable monitoring tool.