Relationship between neck circumference and insulin resistance in a community population

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between neck circumference(NC)and insulin resistance in a large Chinese cohort of community population. Methods A total of 2 318 subjects in this study were from a community-based health examination survey in Xuzhou. Serum triglyceride(TG), total cholesterol(TC), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol(HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol(LDL-C), and glucose levels were determined. NC, height, waist circumference(WC), hip circumference, and body weight were measured. Insulin resistance was assessed by homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance(HOMA-IR)index. Results NC was positively correlated with age, body mass index(BMI), WC, hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, uric acid, TC, TG, LDL-C, while negatively correlated with HDL-C. NC was significantly associated with increasing trend of HOMA-IR in both men and women after adjusting for age and other cardiometabolic risk factors. The associations still existed after further adjustment for BMI and WC. Moreover, there were significant interactions between NC and BMI or WC on HOMA-IR(P<0.01). The associations between NC and HOMA-IR appeared stronger among those with higher BMI or WC. Conclusions In healthy Chinese adults, NC is independently related to HOMA-IR and other cardiometabolic risk factors, and interacts with other parameters of overall or central adiposity, such as BMI and WC. (Chin J Endocrinol Metab, 2015, 31: 33-36) Key words: Neck circumference; Insulin resistance