Neck circumference as a complementary measure to identify risk of excess body mass in children younger than 2 years old

• Published in: Critical care (London, England) Vol. 19; no. S2; p. P31
• Main Authors: Santos, Daniela dos, Farias, Aila Aparecida, Kroll, Caroline, Wanis Figueirêdo, Katherinne B, Mastroeni, Marco Fábio, Bertoli, Mayte, Czarnobay, Sandra Ana, de BS Mastroeni, Silmara S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Age groups; Body mass index; Children & youth; Critical care; Girls; Physical growth; Poster Presentation; Brazil
• ISSN: 1364-8535; 1364-8535; 1366-609X; 1466-609X
• DOI: 10.1186/cc14683

The best cutoff value for identifying overweight/obese children using the body mass index (BMI) was determined by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve), according to gender and the age groups: 13-15 months, 16-19 months and 20-24 months. Characteristic NC Boys Girls rho p value rho p value Age 0.024 0.778 0.124 0.151 Body mass 0.520 <0.001 0.660 <0.001 Length 0.117 0.172 0.358 <0.001 BMI 0.635 <0.001 0.606 <0.001 [ Table Omitted - see PDF ] Table 3 Spearman correlation coefficients (rho) of the relation between BMI and neck circumference (NC) by age and sex, Joinville, SC, Brazil, 2013-2014 Age (months) n BMI-NC rho p value Boys 13?15 65 0.604 <0.001 16?19 44 0.663 <0.001 20?24 30 0.719 <0.001 Girls 13?15 73 0.642 <0.001 16?19 30 0.419 0.021 20?24 33 0.604 <0.001 [ Table Omitted - see PDF ] Table 4 Area under the curve (AUC), frequency (n), optimal cutoff points, sensitivities and specificities for neck circumference (NC) associated with excess body mass in three age groups of boys and girls, Joinville, SC, Brazil, 2013-2014. Age (months) n AUC (95 % CI) Cutoff Sensitivity (%) Specificity (%) Boys 13?15 65 0.796 (0.683?0.909) 23.6 85.0 48.9 16?19 44 0.876 (0.771?0.981) 23.9 81.8 63.6 20?24 30 0.902 (0.000?1.000) 24.0 75.0 92.9 Girls 13?15 73 0.814 (0.709?0.919) 23.4 73.1 61.7 16?19 30 0.697 (0.509?0.885) 23.5 76.9 52.9 20?24 33 0.796 (0.644?0.947) 23.6 76.5 68.7 CI confidence interval Conclusion Our results suggest that NC can also be used to screen risk of excess body mass and upper fat distribution in children aged 13-24 months.