Changes in Visual Cognitive Skills After Weight Loss Surgery in Women

Objective: There is evidence that obesity leads to impairments in certain cognitive functions and provide improvement in these cognitive functions after weight loss. However, the relationship between visual cognitive skills and weight loss has not been adequately studied in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the change in visual cognitive abilities after weight loss. Methods: In this study, 22 obese volunteer women with a body mass index (BMI) of >= 40 kg/m(2) who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) were evaluated. Three days before surgery, a Symptom Check List-90, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation (JoLO) Test, and Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT) were applied to participants. All participants were reevaluated 12 months after surgery through these tests. Results: The BMI of the participants decreased by 21.95-49.41% after the LSG. The mean JoLO scores and mean RCFT short- and long-term memory scores were observed to have increased significantly after 12 months (p = 0.014, p = 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively), and the psychopathological complaints of the individuals were also found to have decreased significantly (p = 0.003). Conclusions: The findings revealed that women who have undergone bariatric surgery experienced positive changes in their visual spatial and visual memory performances 12 months after the surgery.