Highlights
- •Bariatric surgery patients completed cognitive tasks following alcohol consumption
- •Most cognitive task performance improved over time, likely due to practice effects
- •Number of commission errors post-surgery was impacted by baseline cognitive control
Abstract
Background
While bariatric surgery results in substantial weight loss, one negative side effect
of surgery is that patients often experience more rapid and intense intoxication effects
after consuming alcohol.
Objectives
Given that alcohol use has been associated with impaired cognitive functioning in
the general population, this study examined whether acute alcohol consumption after
bariatric surgery immediately led to impaired cognitive control, and whether this
effect was impacted by baseline levels of cognitive control.
Setting
Nonprofit teaching hospital, United States.
Methods
Participants were 34 adults who attended a laboratory visit before and 1 year after
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, wherein they consumed a weight-based dose of alcohol
and completed cognitive testing over the course of 3 hours.
Results
A series of generalized mixed-effect models demonstrated that performance on the cognitive
task generally improved over time, likely due to practice effects. However, following
bariatric surgery, individuals with impaired cognitive control before consuming alcohol
experienced greater commission errors immediately afterward.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that alcohol use after bariatric surgery may produce immediate
deficits in inhibitory control among individuals who are already vulnerable to impaired
cognitive control. Clinicians should seek to educate bariatric surgery candidates
on this possible effect, as deficits in inhibitory control may ultimately lead to
risky behaviors and poor adherence with postsurgical medical recommendations.
Keywords
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 27, 2022
Accepted:
October 12,
2022
Received:
August 10,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
