Correlation of zinc level and cognitive in obese children

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a global health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that obesity reached 300 million people. Obesity can cause numerous comorbidities; one of them is decrease in cognitive ability. Patients with obesity show a structural change in the brain, which is the decrease in hippocampus volume, which is the center for learning and memory, compared to healthy children. Obese children are often found with low zinc levels. This study aimed to prove there is positive correlation between zinc levels and cognitive in obese children. Methods: This was a cross sectional study with consecutive sampling to 88 obese children aged 6-12 years old in primary school. Data collected include age, sex, weight, height, physical activities, zinc, and cognitive score. Data analysis performed with multivariate test which is linear regression analysis, and correlation test. Results: We analyzed 88 subjects with obesity in this study. The result showed positive correlation between zinc levels and cognitive, in which r = 0.6 and p < 0.01. Multivariate analysis used linear regression to assess the pure correlation between zinc and cognitive, the analysis showed that the correlation between zinc and cognitive is â = 0.836 points. Conclusion: This research proved that there is a strong positive correlation between zinc levels and cognitive in obese children.