Neck circumference as a measure of neck fat and abdominal visceral fat in Chinese adults.
BACKGROUND
Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a unique pathogenic fatty deposit, in that it is closely correlated with risk of cardiovascular diseases. The present study is to investigate the usefulness of neck circumference (NC) to indicate VAT.


METHODS
Participants aged 35 to 75 years who had taken abdomen and neck computer tomography (CT) examination were included in this study. Neck adipose tissue, abdominal VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) areas, as well as sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) were measured by CT. Body anthropometrics and metabolic parameters including blood glucose, lipid profiles and blood pressure were also measured.


RESULTS
A lower abdomen CT examination was carried out on a total of 177 patients (87 male and 90 female) with a mean age of 59 years. Of the 177 participants, 15 men and 15 women also took a neck CT examination. With a comparable age and BMI, neck adipose area was correlated with abdominal VAT area significantly in men (r = 0.57, p = 0.028) and women (r = 0.53, p = 0.041). NC is positively correlated with VAT both in men (r = 0.49, p < 0.001) and women (r = 0.25, p = 0.012). Meanwhile, SAD is the best predictor for visceral fat both in men (r = 0.83, p < 0.001) and women (r = 0.73, p < 0.001). Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist to height ratio (WHtR) correlated significantly with VAT both in men and women (r = 0.68, 0.42, 0.46 in men and 0.50, 0.23, 0.39 in women, p < 0.001), while waist hip ratio (WHR) displayed the weakest least correlation in men (r = 0.32, p = 0.001) and no correlation in women (r = 0.08, p = 0.442). Additionally, BMI was more strongly correlated with VAT than NC in both sexes (both p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant correlation between NC and VAT was present in Chinese men and women, which may be accounted by the fact that neck fat area is significantly correlated with abdominal VAT. Meanwhile, SAD is the best predictor for visceral fat in the Chinese population.
Hong-Xing
HX
Li
Fen
F
Zhang
Dong
D
Zhao
Zhong
Z
Xin
Shu-Qin
SQ
Guo
Shu-Mei
SM
Wang
Jian-Jun
JJ
Zhang
Jun
J
Wang
Yan
Y
Li
Guang-Ran
GR
Yang
Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100730, China. jinkui.yang@gmail.com.
Jin-Kui
JK
Yang
D000005:Abdomen; D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012306:Risk; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio