Relación de la circunferencia del cuello con la glucemia y la acantosis nigricans

Background: Neck circumference (NC) emerges as a risk indicator for insulin resistance and is easy to measure; however there is no consensus with cutoffs. Methods: We included adults of 18-59 years. Percentiles were established 75, 85 and 95 for NC. We determined association with acanthosis nigricans and capillary blood glucose. Results: NC was measured on 507 subjects with a mean age of 37.08 years. Mean NC was 37.65 cm and 33.9 cm in men and women. The percentile 85 stood at 40.0 cm in men and 34.0 cm in women in the group aged 18-24 years and 42 and 38 cm respectively in the group of 25-59 years. An elevated NC (≥ 35 cm in women and ≥ 39 cm in men) was strongly associated with acanthosis nigricans in both age groups: OR 13.3 (3.1, 33.2, p < 0.01) in the 18-24 age group and OR 27.4 (8.5, 88.1, p < 0.01) in the group of 25-59 years, being greater than the associations found with BMI ≥ 30 and elevated waist (women: 88 cm, men: 102 cm). The correlation glucose/NC was greater than glucose/ BMI (r = 0.388, p < 0.001, and r = 0.197, p < 0.03, respectively) and mean glucose was greater in the elevated NC: 106.36 mg/ dL and 94.63, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The neck circumference was associated with acanthosis nigricans more strongly than BMI or waist. In addition, glucose was correlated on subjects of 25-59 years.