Association of neck circumference and hypertension among adults in a rural community Thailand: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Hypertension (HT) is a major non-communicable disease worldwide and a growing global public health problem. Although several studies have investigated the independent associations of neck circumference (NC) and hypertension, no such studies have been conducted among the Thai population. AIM: This study aims to identify risk factors associated with hypertension, which may be used to predict HT among asymptomatic adults residing in a remote rural community in central Thailand. METHOD: 1,084 adults were included in this community-based cross-sectional study by a population-based total survey. The participants were included those who had been living in 6 villages in the rural community in the central area of Thailand. Anthropometric information, NC, body composition indexes such as waist circumference and blood pressure were measured. Logistic regression models were fitted to calculate the multi-variable adjusted prevalence and the association of NC with HT. RESULT: The prevalence of HT among adults in the rural community was 27.7% (95% CI: 25.0–30.3). Of the 300 adults with HT, 164 participants (54.7%) were found within the unawareness HT category. We found that associated factors with HT were included larger neck circumference both continuous and categorical (≥ 37.5 in male, ≥ 32.5 in female), pre-existing diabetes mellitus, male, and higher body mass index. CONCLUSION: Almost one-third of participants in the remote rural areas presented hypertension. NC was associated with HT independent from other risk factors. NC is a simple and useful anthropometric index to identify HT in rural Thai adults.