ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the association between the neck circumference and central obesity in the elderly.Methods The neck circumference(NC),height,weight,waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference(HC) of 2820 subjects aged over 60 years were detected from some communities in Nanchang.All subjects were divided into different groups,according to the two different obesity indicators of WC and BMI.The relationship between NC and obesity was analyzed.A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted using the Enter method.An R()C curve analysis was employed to judge the tangent point of NC in central obesity.Results The height,weight and BMI were reduced along with age (all P＜0.05),and the waist hip ratio(WHR) was increased along with age(P＜0.01) in the elderly.The NC was decreased along with age in males(P＜0.01),and the WC was increased along with age in females(Pt＜0.01).The NC was longer in males than in females [(36.5±3.0) cm vs.(32.6±2.4) cm,P＜0.01].The NC was increased along with body weight,WC and BMI in the elderly:with each 1 kg increase in body weight,the NC was increased by 0.079 cm in males and 0.139 cm in females;with each 1cm increase in WC,the NC increased by 0.073 cm in males and 0.040 cm in females;with each 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI,the NC increased by 0.121 cm in males and 0.065 cm in females;with 1 year increase in age,the NC was decreased by 0.033 cm in males(all P＜0.05).when obesity was diagnosed according to both BMI and NC,the NC was longer in the obesity group than in the control group,(P ＜ 0.01).The area under receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve of NC for diagnosing central obesity showed that the area was 0.802 and 0.743 in males and females,and the optimal cut-off value of NC was 36.85 cm and 31.75 cm in males and females,respectively.Conclusions NC is increased along with the increases of body weight,WC and BMI in the elderly.NC is significantly associated with central obesity.NC is more predictive of the central obesity when the value ＞36.85 cm in males and ＞31.75 cm in females.