Background:

body mass index (BMI) is commonly used to diagnose overweight and obesity, and waist circumference (WC) is used to estimate visceral fat. The measurement of WC is demanding, therefore, different studies proposed the use of neck perimeter.

Objective:

exploring diagnostic validity of neck perimeter to diagnose overweight and obesity in 10-12 years old children in La Paz (Bolivia).

Methods:

this is a cross-sectional study with a random sample of school children in El Alto (Bolivia). Weight, height, waist circumference and neck perimeter were measured, classifying the nutritional status with BMI-z according to the cut-off point of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification. The sample size was calculated for 95 % confidence level, an alpha level of 0.05 and 80 % power for diagnosis test design. To evaluate neck perimeter validity for diagnosing obesity, sensibility, specificity and positive and negative ratio likelihood were calculated using BMI gold standard according to age and sex.

Results:

a number of 371 school children between 10-12 years old were included and 34 % of them presented malnutrition by excess. Sensibility and specificity of the neck perimeter to diagnose overweight and obesity were 87.5-100 % and 75.7-86.3 %, respectively.

Conclusion:

neck perimeter in 10-12-year-old school children is a valid indicator for carrying out obesity diagnosis.

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