Central pathways associated with cardiovascular and metabolic health: A neuroimaging investigation

Cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction are known to drive severe disease states such as obesity, leading to sympathetic nervous system activation, vascular dysfunction and inflammation that increase the risk of cerebrovascular disease, cognitive decline and, thus, mortality. Consequently, changes in brain structure and function have been observed in obesity and its comorbidities; however, whether changes in the brain are observed prior to the manifestation of cardiometabolic dysfunction in healthy individuals, is not understood well. The current thesis aimed to characterise brain dynamics associated with body fat and investigate their relationship with cardiovascular and metabolic profiles in a group of healthy adults.