Background and objectives: To identify the relationship between neck circumference (NC) and cardiometabolic risk factors in children. Materials and Methods: Children and adolescents 6-18 years old (n = 548) from five counties of San Luis Potosí, México were included. Data was collected for biological markers (glucose and lipid profile) and anthropometric and clinical measurements-weight, height, NC, waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (BP). Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using Quetelet formula (kg/m2). Descriptive analysis, correlation tests, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed. Results: NC was highly correlated with BMI and WC in both genders (p <0.0001). The most frequent risk factor was high BMI (38.7%). Sensitivity and specificity analysis of NC and high BMI showed an area under the ROC curve of 0.887. Conclusions: According to our findings, NC is a simple, low-cost, and non-invasive measurement, which has a high association with high BMI and increased WC.
Keywords: anthropometric measurements; cardiometabolic risk; children; neck circumference.