The accuracy of neck circumference for assessing overweight and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<b>Context:</b> Neck circumference (NC) has been suggested as an alternative measure to screen for excess body weight. <b>Objective:</b> The aim of this study was to demonstrate the accuracy of neck circumference (NC) as a measure for assessing overweight and obesity in both sexes in different age groups. <b>Methods:</b> Detailed individual search strategies were developed for each of the following bibliographic databases: Cochrane, LILACS, PubMed/MEDLINE, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science. The QUADAS-2 checklist was used to assess the methodology of the studies included. <b>Results:</b> Thirty-eight assessments were performed in 11 articles according to age, sex and weight status. Using sensitivity and specificity, 27 assessments (71.0%) considered NC an accurate measure to diagnose overweight and obesity. The best sensitivity and specificity were found for the age &gt;19 years (82.0%, 82.0%), female (80.0%, 73.0%), and obese (80.0%, 85.0%) categories. <b>Conclusion:</b> NC is an accurate tool for assessing overweight and obesity in males and females of different age groups and could be used to screen for excess body weight in routine medical practice or epidemiological studies. It is also believed that more studies will permit the creation of a reference dataset of NC cut-off values for world populations.

背景：颈围（Neck Circumference, NC）已被提议作为筛查体质量过剩的替代检测指标。
目的：本研究旨在验证颈围用于评估不同年龄组男女超重与肥胖状态的诊断准确性。
方法：针对以下各文献数据库分别制定了详细的独立检索策略：Cochrane数据库、LILACS数据库、PubMed/MEDLINE数据库、Science Direct数据库、Scopus数据库以及Web of Science数据库。采用QUADAS-2量表对纳入研究的方法学质量进行评估。
结果：本研究基于年龄、性别与体质量状态，对11篇文献开展了38项评估。以灵敏度与特异度为评价指标，其中27项评估（占比71.0%）认为颈围可作为诊断超重与肥胖的准确检测指标。在年龄＞19岁组、女性组以及肥胖组中，颈围的诊断效能最优，其灵敏度与特异度分别为82.0%、82.0%；80.0%、73.0%；以及80.0%、85.0%。
结论：颈围是评估不同年龄组男女超重与肥胖状态的准确工具，可用于临床常规诊疗或流行病学研究中的体质量过剩筛查。此外，未来更多相关研究有望构建全球人群颈围截断值参考数据集。