The Influence of Obesity on Cognitive Functioning Among Healthcare Professionals: A Comprehensive Analysis

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 15; no. 8; p. e42926
• Main Authors: Rukadikar, Charushila, Shah, Chinmay J, Raju, Aruna, Popat, Sarthak, Josekutty, Rocelyn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto Cureus Inc 03.08.2023; Cureus
• Subjects: Body fat; Body mass index; Brain research; Cardiovascular disease; Cognitive ability; Diabetes; Females; Males; Memory; Neurology; Obesity; Other; Overweight; Questionnaires; Skin; Variance analysis; Womens health; India
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.42926

BackgroundExcessive body fat, or obesity, is a worldwide epidemic and a major contributor to the development of dementia.AimThe research aimed to determine how obesity affected healthcare professionals' memory performance.Materials and MethodA total of 474 participants (both male and female) were recruited in this study by random sampling method from three different health institutions. Participants were categorized into overweight, normal weight, and obese groups based on their body mass index (BMI) as per the WHO guidelines and for body fat participants. The memory function test was done using the Gilewski MJ scale. General frequency of forgetting, mnemonic usage, retrospective functioning, and seriousness of forgetting were measured and compared across the BMI and %body fat groups.ResultsThe percentage of body fat of males and females was 38.19% and 42.26%. Statistically, a significant difference (p<0.05) was observed among the male and female BMI and percentage of body fat. The results showed that there was a significant difference between memory scale parameters and percentage BMI. Statistically, a significant difference was observed in the level of general frequency of forgetting among participants with different percentages of BMI (p<0.05). Similar, results were also observed in the level of seriousness of forgetting, retrospective functioning, and mnemonics usage with different % BMI (p<0.05). The findings showed a positive correlation between BMI and %body fat on the scale of general frequency of forgetting and seriousness of forgetting whereas, a negative correlation was observed on the scale of retrospective functioning and mnemonics usage.ConclusionMemory loss is one of the disorders that obesity is linked to more frequently. A focus on keeping a healthy weight may help prevent the development of future diseases.