Neck Circumference Is Positively Associated With Blood Pressure and Other Anthropometric Measurements Among Turkish Adults: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

ObjectivesHypertension (HT) is a major non-communicable disease and responsible for 13% of deaths in Turkey. Although the associations of neck circumference (NC) and hypertension have been examined, no such studies have been conducted among Turkish population. MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted with 356 adults aged ≥18. The participants were included in a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, between 2019 and 2020. Blood pressure, NC, other anthropometric indexes such as body weight, height, waist circumference were measured. Pearson correlation were applied to determine the association of NC with blood pressure and other antropometric measurements. ResultsThe HT prevalence was 50.3% among participants. We found that neck circumference both continuous and categorical (≥37.5 in male, ≥32.5 in female) is positively correlated with higher blood pressure, waist circumference and body mass index. ConclusionsAlmost one-third of adult population in Turkey has hypertension. NC was associated with both blood pressure and other HT related anthropometric risk factors. These results suggest that as a simple and useful anthropometric measurement NC can be used to assess HT in adults to support prevention and management of HT for public health. Funding SourcesNo funding sources (organizations, institutions, agencies) were used to carry out this research.