Altered hypothalamic functional connectivity in adolescents with severe obesity
Authors' conclusion
Severe obesity in adolescence is associated with altered communication between homeostatic (hypothalamus) and non-homeostatic brain structures, evident across fasting and fed states.
Study context
- Population
- Adolescents aged 13–18 years with severe obesity or healthy weight; resting-state fMRI during fasting and after a 75-gram glucose drink (300 kcal)
- Participants
- 30 vs 26
- Comparison
- Adolescents with severe obesity vs healthy weight, fasting and fed states
- Severe obesity (SO)n = 30
- Healthy weight (HW)n = 26reference
- Primary endpoint
- Hypothalamic functional connectivity (hypothalamus as seed region)
- Follow-up
- Fasting and fed states
Methodological detailssingle-blinded, seed-to-voxel analysis, adjusted for sex and household income
- Single-blinded
- Seed-to-voxel analysis
- Adjusted for sex and household income
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Hypothalamic functional connectivity, SO vs HW
- Fasting: weaker hypothalamic connectivity to bilateral cerebellum and L middle occipital gyrus in SO vs HW
- Fasting: stronger hypothalamic connectivity to R postcentral/supramarginal gyri in SO vs HW
- Fed: increased hypothalamic connectivity to bilateral middle frontal gyri and R putamen in SO vs HW
- Fed: decreased hypothalamic connectivity to R caudate and L superior frontal gyrus in SO vs HW
- Cluster-forming voxel-level p < 0.005 and false discovery rate-corrected cluster-level p < 0.05
Original publication
Altered hypothalamic functional connectivity in adolescents with severe obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 2 June 2026. doi:10.
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