Investigating the Association of Patient Body Mass Index With Posterior Subcutaneous Fat Thickness in the Cervical Spine: A Retrospective Radiographic Study

Introduction: Although BMI is often used as a surrogate for posterior cervical subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), the association of BMI with cervical SFT is unknown. We performed a retrospective radiographic study to analyze the relationship between BMI and cervical SFT.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with cervical CT scans. SFT was assessed by measuring the distance (mm) from the spinous processes of C2-C7 to the skin edge. Pearson correlations and linear regression were used to analyze the relationship between BMI and SFT. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze differences in C2-C7 distances while stratifying by BMI.

Results: A total of 96 patients were included. BMI had a moderate correlation with average C2-C7 (r=0.546, p < 0.05) SFT, and a weak to moderate correlation with each individual C2-C7 distance. The strongest correlation was at the C7 level (r= 0.583, p < 0.05). These analyses remained significant controlling for potential confounders of patient age, sex, and diabetes. No difference was found in the average C2-C7 distance in patients with BMIs of 25-30 compared to those with BMIs of 30-40 (p=0.996), whereas in patients with BMI <25 and BMI >40, differences were significant (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: BMI is not strongly correlated with SFT in the cervical spine. Although BMI less than 25 or greater than 40 is correlated with respectively decreased or increased cervical SFT, BMI of 25-40 is not correlated with cervical SFT. This is clinically important information for surgeons counseling patients on perioperative risk before undergoing cervical spine procedures, namely infection. Further research delineating the relationship between posterior SFT and surgical site infection in the cervical spine is warranted.