Age-Dependent Contributions of Neck Circumference to Indices of Obesity Among Female College Students Aged 18 to 20 Years

Measurement of neck circumference (NC) is an easy method to assess obesity. Our investigation to estimate risks for metabolic disease in Japanese postmenopausal women indicated that NC is significantly associated with whole-body obesity indices and visceral fat accumulation. To clarify the early stage of metabolic changes and confirm NC validity as a predictor of metabolic syndrome, NC’s association to the four obesity indices, namely, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat, and waist circumference (WC), was examined in a college student group of 60 females aged 18.7±0.3 years. NC was mainly correlated with weight, followed by BMI, WC, and body fat. It was also significantly associated with weight and BMI, but not with body fat. The participants were divided into two subgroups: “sports-experienced” and “not-sports-experienced,” who had moderate and strong correlation coefficients with NC and WC, respectively. WC value was possibly predicted by NC values using linear functions for the group and its subgroups. The correlation between NC and WC, NC’s association to weight, and substitution of NC to WC were confirmed by the same analyses in another student group composed with 18 females aged 19.7±0.6 years. Our study showed that the distribution of body fat in college students is difficult to assess based on NC alone. Nevertheless, NC measurement is an easy, inexpensive, and reproducible method to assess obesity and a possible predictor to identify the risk for future metabolic diseases in Japanese college students with the four obesity indices, weight, BMI, body fat, and WC.