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Recent studies have shown that obesity and overweight are a risk factor for poor cognitive functions. Executive functions (EFs) are a group of cognitive processes essential
for goal directed behaviours. Impairment of EFs have been associated with academic
and behavioural problems. The working memory (WM) and inhibition are two of the
core executive functions (EFs) that afe continued to develop and mature in late adolescence. Therefore/the aim of this study was to determine the effect Of body mass
index (BMI) on executive functions among periurban young adults living in Piliyandala Medical Officer of Health (MOH) division, Colombo District, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted On young adults aged 21-25 years selected
by simple random sampling. Computerized executive function tasks (EF tasks) were
performed to assess the executive functions. EFs were assessed through visuospatial
working memory task (VSWM) and inhibition with go/no-go and stop signal tasks
(SST). Correlation was assessed through spearman correlation coefficient (r) and the
level of significance was set at p<0.05. Study sample consisted of 41 young healthily adults. Majority of the sample was female (61%) and mean age was 23.07±1.63
years. Mean BMI was 23.82±3.02 Kgm2 and 43% were overweight or obese. The mean
score of VSWM was 21:46+7.23 SD. In inhibition tasks, mean scores of the commission error of SST and incorrect responses of go/no go tasks were 2.1211.36 SD and
0.72+0.91 SD respectively. Further, a negative significant correlation coefficient was
observed in VSWM (r= -0.495 & p<0.001) while no significant correlation coefficient
was observed in inhibition tasks (SST r= -0.098 & p=0.543 and go/no go r= 0.188&
p=0.382). Study shows that VSWM was significantly negatively associated with BMI
but there was no significant association between inhibition tasks and BMI. This may
be due to small study sample.
