Neck Circumference and the Development of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in the Framingham Heart Study

Upper-body subcutaneous adipose tissue, estimated by neck circumference (NC), is a unique fat depot that may confer additional risk for metabolic risk factors over generalized and central adiposity (1). Using a prospective study design, we now evaluate whether NC improves the prediction of incident cardiovascular disease risk factors over BMI and waist circumference (2). Framingham Heart Study participants ( n = 2,732; 54% women; mean age, 57 years) were followed for ∼10 years (1995–2008) for the development of type 2 diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥126 mg/dL or treatment), hypertension, low HDL cholesterol (<40 mg/dL, men; <50 mg/dL, women), and high triglycerides (≥150 mg/dL or lipid treatment). NC, BMI, and waist circumference were standardized within each sex to a mean of zero and an SD of one. Logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and smoking, were used to test the association between 1 SD increment of NC with each outcome. …