Diagnostic performance of neck circumference to identify overweight and obesity as defined by body mass index in children and adolescents: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The neck circumference (NC) has been shown to be an accurate index for screening overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Aim: To perform a meta-analysis to assess the performance of NC for the assessment of overweight and obesity. Subjects and methods: Data sources were PubMe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chunming Ma, Rui Wang, Yue Liu, Qiang Lu, Xiaoli Liu, Fuzai Yin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-04-01
Series:Annals of Human Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2016.1224387
Description
Summary:Background: The neck circumference (NC) has been shown to be an accurate index for screening overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Aim: To perform a meta-analysis to assess the performance of NC for the assessment of overweight and obesity. Subjects and methods: Data sources were PubMed and EMBASE up to March 2016. Studies providing measures of diagnostic performance of NC and using body mass index as reference standard were included. Results: Six eligible studies that evaluated 11 214 children and adolescents aged 6–18 years were included in the meta-analysis. NC showed pooled sensitivity to detect high body mass index of 0.780 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.765–0.794), specificity of 0.746 (95% CI =  0.736–0.756) and a diagnostic odds ratio of 17.343 (95% CI =  8.743–34.405). Conclusions: The NC had moderate diagnostic accuracy for identifying overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
ISSN:0301-4460
1464-5033