The Role of Neck Circumference in Predicting Body Fat Distribution: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Healthy Female Medical Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/xxgma973Keywords:
Anthropometric assessment, Body fat percentage, Community health, neck circumference, Medical studentsAbstract
Background: Obesity, characterized by excessive fat accumulation, poses significant health risks. Traditional anthropometric measures like BMI, waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are commonly used to assess obesity, but they have limitations. This study investigates neck circumference (NC) as an alternative measure for assessing body fat distribution, particularly in the context of the "thin-fat Indian" phenotype, which exhibits central obesity despite a generally lean physique.
Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted at xxx in 2023, included 63 healthy female medical students aged 18-25 years. After obtaining ethical approval and informed consent, participants underwent anthropometric measurements including NC and body fat percentage, the latter determined via bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). NC was measured following ISAK guidelines. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 25), with Pearson's correlation coefficient and simple linear regression analysis used to explore the relationship between NC and body fat parameters.
Results: The mean age of participants was 20.8±8.2 years. Mean NC was 30.03 ± 4.74 cm. The analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between NC and body fat percentage across various body sections (all r > 0.74, all p < 0.001), with the highest correlation observed for arm fat percentage (r = 0.960). Simple linear regression analysis indicated that NC significantly predicts several body fat measures, accounting for 57.9% of the variability in BMI, 68.7% in total body fat percentage, 79.3% in subcutaneous fat percentage, 55.7% in visceral fat percentage, 92.2% in arm fat percentage, 88.9% in trunk fat percentage, and 87.1% in leg fat percentage.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that NC is a robust predictor of body fat distribution, particularly for arm and trunk fat percentages. This aligns with previous research highlighting NC as a valuable tool for identifying obesity-related health risks. The strong correlations and high coefficients of determination underscore the potential of NC as a simple, non-invasive, and cost-effective method for assessing body fat composition, especially in community settings.
References
Blüher M. Obesity: global epidemiology and pathogenesis. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2019;15(5):288-98.10.1038/s41574-019-0176-8.
World Health Organization. World health statistics 2016: monitoring health for the SDGs sustainable development goals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016.
Zvonar M, Štefan L, Kasović M. Percentile Curves for Body-Mass Index, Waist Circumference, Waist-To-Height Ratio and Waist-To-Height Ratio(Exp) in Croatian Adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(11). 10.3390/ijerph16111920.
Aggarwal B, Jain V. Obesity in Children: Definition, Etiology and Approach. Indian J Pediatr. 2018;85(6):463-71. 10.1007/s12098-017-2531-x.
Asif M, Aslam M, Ullah K, et al. Diagnostic Performance and Appropriate Cut-Offs of Different Anthropometric Indicators for Detecting Children with Overweight and Obesity. Biomed Res Int. 2021;2021:1608760. 10.1155/2021/1608760.
Alves Junior CA, Mocellin MC, Gonçalves ECA, Silva DA, Trindade EB. Anthropometric Indicators as Body Fat Discriminators in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Adv Nutr. 2017;8(5):718-27.10.3945/an.117.015446.
Borga M, West J, Bell JD, et al. Advanced body composition assessment: from body mass index to body composition profiling. J Investig Med. 2018;66(5):1-9.10.1136/jim-2018-000722.
Kurpad AV, Varadharajan KS, Aeberli I. The thin-fat phenotype and global metabolic disease risk. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2011;14(6):542-7. 10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834b6e5e.
Nuttall FQ. Body Mass Index: Obesity, BMI, and Health: A Critical Review. Nutr Today. 2015;50(3):117-28.10.1097/NT.0000000000000092.
Verma M, Rajput M, Sahoo SS, Kaur N. Neck Circumference: Independent Predictor for Overweight and Obesity in Adult Population. Indian J Community Med. 2017;42(4):209-13. 10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_196_16
Higgins PB, Comuzzie AG. Handbook of Anthropometry. New York, NY: Springer; 2012. Measures of waist circumference; pp. 881–91. 10.1007/978-1-4419-1788-1.
Yan Q, Sun D, Li X, et al. 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;30(1):69-76. 10.1002/dmrr.2464
Kroll C, Mastroeni S, Czarnobay SA, Ekwaru JP, Veugelers PJ, Mastroeni MF. The accuracy of neck circumference for assessing overweight and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Hum Biol. 2017;44(8):667-77.10.1080/03014460.2017.1390153.
Esparza-Ros F, Vaquero-Cristóbal R, Marfell-Jones M. International Standards for Anthropometric Assessment. International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK); 2019.
Alfadhli EM, Sandokji AA, Zahid BN, et al. Neck circumference as a marker of obesity and a predictor of cardiometabolic risk among Saudi subjects. Saudi Med J. 2017;38(12):1219-23.10.15537/smj.2017.12.20926.
Ben-Noun L, Sohar E, Laor A. Neck circumference as a simple screening measure for identifying overweight and obese patients. Obes Res. 2001;9(8):470-7. 10.1038/oby.2001.61.
Saka M, Türker P, Ercan A, Kiziltan G, Baş M. Is neck circumference measurement an indicator for abdominal obesity? A pilot study on Turkish Adults. Afr Health Sci. 2014;14(3):570-5. 10.4314/ahs.v14i3.11.
Hingorjo MR, Qureshi MA, Mehdi A. Neck circumference as a useful marker of obesity: a comparison with body mass index and waist circumference. JPMA J Pak Med Assoc. 2012;62(1):36-40.
Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Bahat G, Bauer J, et al. Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing. 2019;48(1):16-31. 10.1093/ageing/afy169.
Sergi G, Trevisan C, Veronese N, et al. Imaging of sarcopenia. Eur J Radiol. 2016;85(8):1519-24.10.1016/j.ejrad.2016.04.009.
Krugh M, Langaker MD. Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024.
Coelho HJJ, Sampaio RA, Gonçalvez IO, et al. Cutoffs and cardiovascular risk factors associated with neck circumference among community-dwelling elderly adults: a cross-sectional study. Sao Paulo Med J. 2016;134(6):519-27. 10.1590/1516-3180.2016.0160110906.
Nafiu OO, Burke C, Lee J, et alNeck circumference as a screening measure for identifying children with high body mass index. Pediatrics. 2010;126(2):e306-10.10.1542/peds.2010-0242.
Pei X, Liu L, Imam MU, et al. Neck circumference may be a valuable tool for screening individuals with obesity: findings from a young Chinese population and a meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2018;18(1):529. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5448-z
Subramanian SK, Rajendran R, Venkata Vijaya Sai A, et al. Correlation of Neck Circumference with Body Fat Percentage by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. Int J Kinanthropometry. 2023;3(1):102-8. https://doi.org/10.34256/ijk23111
Basdevant A, Raison J, De Lignières B, et al[Metabolism of sex hormones and adipose tissue]. J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod (Paris). 1986;15(2):147-52. Steiner BM, Berry DC. The Regulation of Adipose Tissue Health by Estrogens. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022;13:889923.10.3389/fendo.2022.889923.
Katzer K, Hill JL, McIver KB, Foster MT. Lipedema and the Potential Role of Estrogen in Excessive Adipose Tissue Accumulation. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(21):11720. Published 2021 Oct 29. 10.3390/ijms222111720.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Senthil Kumar Subramanian, Gowdarahalli Basavegowda Kuldeep, Rajathi Rajendran, Varsha Yuvaraj
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.