The role of neck circumference measurement, could be a reliable way of evaluating patient's health state

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Joanna Holowko

Pomeranian Medical University, Poland

: J Nurs Patient Care

Abstract

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The epidemiological study is one of the most demanding studies. Furthermore, receiving honest data from patients is required to obtain solid statistics. However, there are some questions generally regarded as inhibiting and sensitive, for instance concerning body weight or waist circumference. Those questions could have a significant impact on utter statistics making them unreliable. There is an enormous need to create some useful and convenient anthropometric tools that would help to evaluate patient???s health status while simultaneously avoiding sensitive questions and rendering all the data valid. The object of the study was to examine the usefulness of neck circumference in evaluating a patient???s body weight and waist circumference. The study was conducted in Szczecin during two popular events: The finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (10.01.2016) and the run for women, Alkala (06.03.2016). It included 374 patients, 242 of whom were women. Every participant was measured using a flexible measuring tape in order to obtain neck and waist circumference and also the body mass was weighed. Additionally, short survey research, concerning height, educational background, and place of residence was conducted. Statistical analysis showed a very strong correlation between neck circumference and both body weight (p<0.01, RHO=0.7) and waist circumference (p<0.01, RHO=0.76). It seems that neck circumference is a solid indicator that can help to evaluate both body weight and waist circumference avoiding sensitive questions. Thus, neck circumference may be helpful in collecting a representative group of people during a population study Keywords: teleservice, videoconferencing, video monitoring, digital photography, telecommunication, nursing

Biography

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Joanna HoÅ?owko is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree at Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland. She is working as a Dietician in the Rehabilitation Hospital of Saint Charles Borromeo in Szczecin. She has published seven papers in reputed journals and has taken an active part in many national and foreign conferences on nutrition.