Publication:

Neck circumference and wrist circumference as a screening tool for obesity in early adolescents: a cross-sectional study

Background Obesity in adolescents is a growing public health problem. Neck circumference (NC) and wrist circumference (WrC) were suggested as simple and cheap alternatives for obesity screening. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity and the utility of NC and WrC in rural adolescent.

Methods A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 318 rural adolescents aged 11-14 years. Anthropometric measurements of height, body weight, NC and WrC were performed using standard procedures. Obesity was defined as BMI-for-age Z score (BAZ). Pearson correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was done.

Results Prevalence of obesity was 4.1% (13/318). NC showed statistically significant negative correlation with BAZ (r=-0.180, p=0.001) while WrC showed a stronger negative correlation with BAZ (r=-0.390, p<0.001). The ROC analysis showed acceptable diagnostic performance for NC (AUC=0.707, 95% CI: 0.549-0.865) and good diagnostic performance for WrC (AUC=0.832, 95% CI: 0.748-0.917). The optimal cutoff values were 29.25 cm for NC and 16.25 cm for WrC.

Conclusions Both NC and WrC were able to identify obesity in rural adolescents, with WrC performing better in diagnosis than NC. WrC could be a simple and feasible anthropometric marker for screening of obesity in community settings. These findings need to be confirmed in further studies.