Neck Circumference and Cardio-Metabolic Risk in Normal Exercise Capacity Perimenopausal/Menopausal Women

Screening tools that include additional biomarkers may yield better predictive value for hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, and other cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and help identify those individuals who may benefit from more in-depth assessment. Neck circumference (NC) is a simple screening measure for identifying cardio-metabolic risk in perimenopausal and menopausal women.

To determine whether a single measure of NC might be used to identify cardio-metabolic risk. NC for comparing with existing traditional anthropometric parameters such as body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR).

The cross-sectional study with 76 perimenopausal and menopausal participants aged 40 to 70 years were recruited from Suranaree University of Technology Hospital between September 2015 and February 2016. Anthropometric indices, biochemical laboratory, and clinical parameters were measured. The NC of larger than 35 cm parameters was the cut-off in normal NC in women. All participants did exercise stress test.

Seventy-six perimenopausal/menopausal women were included in this study. The NC was positively correlated with weight, BMI, and waist circumference (WC) (r = 0.72, 0.72 and 0.65 respectively, all p<0.01) and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (r = -0.44, p<0.01). Other laboratory parameters such as fasting blood sugar (FBS) (r = 0.23, p = 0.04) and triglyceride (TG) (r = 0.31, p<0.01) were also positively correlated.

NC measurement is a simple and a time saving screening measure that can be used to identify cardio-metabolic risk associated with simple anthropometric parameters such as BMI, WC, FBS, TG, and HDL-C. Participants with NC equal or greater than 35 cm were correlated with higher weight, BMI, and WC in normal exercise capacity perimenopausal/menopausal women.