Executive Functions Correlated with Body Mass Index in Overweight Middle-Aged Women

Theimpacts of excess Body mass index (BMI) on physical health are well known andwidely studied, but little is known about the consequences of being overweightor obese on cognitive function. The aim of this study was to correlate the BMIwith executive functions in overweight middle- aged women. Seventy overweightmiddle-aged women between 48 and 64 years of age who are otherwise healthyparticipated in the study. Demographic and anthropometric variables wereevaluated. Four standard neuropsychological tests were applied to assess executivefunctions, sustained attention, selective attention, and verbal fluency. Themean BMI of the participants was 29.35 and was negatively correlated withcategories reached (r = -0.41, p = 0.007) and positivelycorrelated with the number of errors (r = 0.43, p = 0.005)of executive function test. Scores of other neuropsychological tests appliedshowed no correlation with BMI. These findings suggest that BMI impacts theexecutive functions in overweight women who do not present any signs ofdisease.