Relationship between visceral fat and neck circumference in patients with metabolic syndrome

H. Gulmez; A. Kut

The metabolic syndrome is a combination of multi-factorial risk factors, which affects more people because of increased incidence of obesity and diabetes. The metabolic syndrome is one of the major health problems for the 21st century.

In this study, we compared neck circumferences measurements with some of the metabolic and anthropometric measurements in patients presenting with complains of weight, and aimed to show the correlation between visceral fat rates and neck measurements especially in patients with metabolic syndrome. 179 patients with complains of weight were included from 01.02.2009 to 01.02.2011, in Baskent University Umitkoy Polyclinic, diabetes and obesity clinic. This is a retrospective case–control study.

Research data were transferred to the statistic program SPSS version 16.0. The data control and analysis made with the same program. Pearson χ² test used for the analysis of hypothesis, and χ² test used for levels of significance of the data. Metabolic Sendrom was identified based on criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III).

Of the 179 patients, 77% (n=137) were women, 23% (n=42) were men (W: M ratio=3.26). The mean age was 37±13.15. 40 of our patients (22.3%) were diagnosed the metabolic syndrome. The mean neck circumference was 35.15±3.48 cm in those without metabolic syndrome, and 38.40±4.13 cm in those with metabolic syndrome (P=0.000). Statistically significant positive correlation is demonstrated between neck circumference measurements and visceral fat rates in patients with metabolic syndrome (r=0.71, P=0.01; Table).

Our study revealed that, neck circumference measurement is a valuable and indicating statistically significant positive correlation measurement such as the waist circumference measurement which is one of the NCEP ATP III criteria, in metabolic syndrome.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

**Table 1**
Pearson correlation (r)	Neck circumference	Waist circumference	Hip circumference	Visceral fat	Abdominal fat	HDL	Triglyceride
Neck circumference	1	,27	,27	,71**	,40**	,01	,14
Waist circumference		1	,68**	,56**	,48**	−,12	,01
Hip circumference			1	,54**	,41**	−,28	,08
Visceral fat				1	−,17	−,07	−,02
Abdominal fat					1	−,20	,04
HDL						1	−,21
Triglyceride							1
*Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level.

Endocrine Abstracts

P1280