study of neck circumference in patients with coronary heart disease referring to the angiography ward of urmia taleghani hospital

study of n eck circumference in patients with coronary heart disease referring to the angiography ward of urmia taleghani hospital     karimipour m [1] *, karimnia a [2] , rostamzadeh ar [3]     received: 20 aug, 2011 accepted: 8 nov, 2011     abstract   background & aims : obesity is a public health problem in developing countries and is associated with cardiovascular risk factors. the aim of this study is to evaluate neck circumference (as an index of upper body obesity) in patients with cardiovascular disease that have been referred to angiography in comparison with healthy normal group.   materials & methods : a total of 200 subjects were used as two groups: 100 in patients group (50 male and 50 female) and 100 normal healthy group (50 male 50 female). neck circumference was measured and compared in both groups.   result : the results revealed that the mean of neck circumference in patients group was significantly (p<0.05) higher than normal group.   conclusion: h igher neck circumference in patients with coronary heart disease were compared with healthy normal subjects, it seems this finding supports the suggestion of neck circumference as a simple method to serve as obesity evaluation and also as a predictor for increased risk for coronary heart disease.   keywords: obesit y, neck circumference, angiography, coronary vessels     address : department of anatomy, faculty of medicine, urmia university of medical sciences urmia, iran, tel: (+98441) 2780800   email: [email protected]   [1] associate professor, anatomy department , university of medical sciences, urmia , iran (corresponding author)  [2] general practitioner, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran  [3] assistant professor, cardiology department, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran