Cent Eur J Public Health 2016, 24(2):91-94

Neck Circumference Positively Related with Central Obesity and Overweight in Turkish University Students: A Preliminary Study

İsmail Özkaya1, Aydın Tunçkale2
1 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Kirklareli University Health School, Kirklareli, Turkey
2 Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Cerrahpasa Medical School, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

Aim: According to the World Health Organization, central obesity is increasing alarmingly worldwide. Neck circumference is a relatively new method of differentiating between normal and abnormal fat distribution. The aim of this study is to determine the association between neck circumference and central obesity in young Turkish male and female university students.

Methods: A community of university students based cross-sectional study was conducted on 319 males and 838 females and investigated the association between neck circumference and other anthropometric variables by gender.

Results: In male subjects, the neck circumference revealed a positive correlation with the body mass index (r=0.684, p<0.01), waist circumference (r=0.686, p<0.01) and waist/hip ratio (r=0.534, p<0.01). Similarly, in female subjects neck circumference revealed a positive correlation with the body mass index (r=0.482, p<0.01), waist circumference (r=0.479, p<0.01) and waist/hip ratio (r=0.246, p<0.01).

Conclusion: Our study has demonstrated that the positive correlation between neck circumference, which is a simple and fast anthropometric measurement, and visceral obesity, is also applicable to university students.

Keywords: neck circumference, waist circumference, overweight, obesity, anthropometry

Received: September 10, 2015; Revised: March 29, 2016; Accepted: March 29, 2016; Published: June 1, 2016  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Özkaya İ, Tunçkale A. Neck Circumference Positively Related with Central Obesity and Overweight in Turkish University Students: A Preliminary Study. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2016;24(2):91-94. PubMed PMID: 27119655.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Nutrition, physical activity and obesity: Turkey [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europa; 2013 [cited 2015 May 21]. Available from: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/243332/Turkey-WHO-Country-Profile.pdf?ua=1.
    2. Satman I, Beyhan O, Tutuncu Y, Kalaca S, Gedik S, Dinçdag N, et al. Twelve-year trends in the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes and prediabetes in Turkish adults. Eur J Epidemiol. 2013 Feb;28(2):169-80. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Ilhan S, Yilmaz T, Sengül A, Salman S, Salman F, Uygur S, et al. Population-based study of diabetes and risk characteristics in Turkey results of the Turkish diabetes epidemiology study (TURDEP). Diabetes Care. 2002 Sep;25(9):1551-6. Go to original source...
    4. Chan DC, Watts GF, Barrett PH, Burke V. Waist circumference, waistto-hip ratio and body mass index as predictors of adipose tissue compartments in men. QJM. 2003 Jun;96(6):441-7. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Pouliot MC, Despres J, Lemieux S, Moorjani, S, Bouchard, C, Tremblay A, et al. Waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter: best simple anthropometric indexes of abdominal visceral adipose tissue accumulation and related cardiovascular risk in men and women. Am J Cardiol. 1994;73:460-8. Go to original source...
    6. Alberti KG, Zimmet P, Shaw J. Metabolic syndrome - a new world-wide definition. A Consensus Statement from the International Diabetes Federation. Diabet Med. 2006 May;23(5):469-80. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Esfarjani F, Khalafi M, Mohammadi F, Zamani-Nour N, Kelishadi R. Metabolic Syndrome and its determinants in a sample of young Iranian children with obesity. Pak J Med Sci. 2013;29(1 Suppl):253-57. Go to original source...
    8. Wang J, Thornton JC, Bari S, Williamson B, Gallagher D, Heymsfield SB, et al. Comparisons of waist circumferences measured at 4 sites. Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Feb;77(2):379-84. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Aswathappa J, Garg S, Kutty K, Shankar V. Neck circumference as an anthropometric measure of obesity in diabetics. N Am J Med Sci. 2013 Jan;5(1):28-31. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Kumar NV, Ismail MH, Mahesha P, Girish M,Tripathy M. Neck circumference and cardio- metabolic syndrome. J Clin Diagn Res. 2014 Jul; 8(7):23-5.
    11. Zhou JY, Ge H, Zhu MF, Wang LJ, Chen L, Tan YZ, et al. Neck circumference as an independent predictive contributor to cardio-metabolic syndrome. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2013 May 16;12:76. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Hingorjo MR, Masood A, Mehdi A. Neck circumference as a useful marker of obesity: a comparison with body mass index and waist circumference. J Pak Med Assoc. 2012 Jan;62(1):36-40. Go to PubMed...
    13. MisraA, Wasir JS, Vikram NK. Waist circumference criteria for the diagnosis of abdominal obesity are not applicable uniformly to all populations and ethnic groups. Nutrition. 2005 Sep;21(9):969-76. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. Nafiu OO, Burke C, Lee J, Voepel-Lewis T, Malviya S, Tremper KK. Neck circumference as a screening measure for identifying children with high body mass index. Pediatrics. 2010 Aug;126(2):e306-10. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood an adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA. 2014 Feb 26;311(8):806-14. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Atabek ME, Ozgur P, Kurtoglu S. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in obese Turkish children and adolescents. Diabetes research and clinical practice. 2006; 72(3):315-32. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Onat A, Hergenç G, Yüksel H, Can G, Ayhan E, Kaya Z, et al. Neck circumference as a measure of central obesity: associations with metabolic syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome beyond waist circumference. Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb;28(1):46-51. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    18. World Medical Association. World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects JAMA. 2013 Nov 27;310(20):2191-4. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults: executive summary. Expert Panel on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight in Adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Oct;68(4):899-917. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    20. Alberti KG, Eckel RH, Grundy SM, Zimmet PZ, Cleeman JI, Donato K, et al. Harmonizing the metabolic syndrome: a joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association; World Heart Federation; InternationalAtherosclerosis Society; and International Association for the Study of Obesity. Circulation. 2009 Oct 20;120(16):1640-5. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Yan Q, Sun D, Li X, Zheng Q, Li L, Gu C, Feng B. Neck circumference is a valuable tool for identifying metabolic syndrome and obesity in Chinese elder subjects: a community-based study. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2014 Jan;30(1):69-76. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Yang GR, Yuan SY, Fu HJ, Wan G, Zhu LX, Bu XL, et al. Neck circumference positively related with central obesity, overweight, and metabolic syndrome in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes: Beijing Community Diabetes Study 4. Diabetes Care. 2010 Nov;33(11):2465-7. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Dahlén EM, Bjarnegård N, Länne T, Nystrom FH, Ostgren CJ. Sagittal abdominal diameter is a more independent measure compared with waist circumference to predict arterial stiffness in subjects with type 2 diabetes - a prospective observational cohort study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2013 Mar 28;12:55. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    24. Ben-Noun L, Sohar E, LaorA. Neck circumference as a simple screening measure for identifying overweight and obese patients. Obes Res. 2001 Aug;9(8):470-7. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    25. World Health Organization. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic: report of a WHO consultation. WHO technical report series; 894. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2000.

    Return to the content