Background: We have previously found that neck circumference was related to insulin resistance, a risk factor for hypertension in Chinese. Little is known about whether high neck circumference is associated with elevated blood pressure.
Method: The study samples were from a community-based health examination survey in central China. In total, 1709 men and women with neck circumference measurement were included. We analysed the associations between neck circumference and the risk of prehypertension.
Results: Although neck circumference was strongly associated with SBP/DBP in a univariate analysis, it was no longer associated with SBP and the association was much weaker with DBP when the association was adjusted for BMI or waist circumference. Similarly, high neck circumference was significantly related to an increased risk of prehypertension [odds ratio 1.254; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.171-1.343] in a univariate analysis, and the association became marginal in models further adjusting for BMI or waist.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that neck circumference as predictor for prehypertension is not obvious given the moderate improvement of disease prediction.