title: Diagnostic performance of neck circumference to identify overweight and obesity as defined by body mass index in children and adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The neck circumference (NC) has been shown to be an accurate index for screening overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To perform a meta-analysis to assess the performance of NC for the assessment of overweight and obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data sources were PubMed and EMBASE up to March 2016. Studies providing measures of diagnostic performance of NC and using body mass index as reference standard were included.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six eligible studies that evaluated 11 214 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years were included in the meta-analysis. NC showed pooled sensitivity to detect high body mass index of 0.780 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.765-0.794), specificity of 0.746 (95% CI =  0.736-0.756) and a diagnostic odds ratio of 17.343 (95% CI =  8.743-34.405).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The NC had moderate diagnostic accuracy for identifying overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Chunming
authors: C
authors: Ma
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Wang
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Yue
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Lu
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Xiaoli
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: a Department of Endocrinology , the First Hospital of Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao , Hebei Province , PR China.
authors: Fuzai
authors: F
authors: Yin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009333:Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity
keywords: Obesity; adolescent; children; meta-analysis; neck circumference