Relationship between Body Composition and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Students at Postgraduate Level

Background Physical activity and cardiovascular fitness are important indicators of cardiovascular risk and health status. Objectives This study aimed to examine the relationship between body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness in students at postgraduate level. Methods This cross-sectional study. In the 2014 - 2015 academic year, all first-year university students from a postgraduate Tarbiat Modares level university were invited to take part in the present study. Three hundred volunteer students aged 22 to 36 years were selected. Body mass, body fat percent, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) of subjects were measured at a specified time. T-independent test was used to examine the difference between groups. Also, the correlation between variables was examined using Pearson correlation coefficient. All data were analyzed by the SPSS software (Version-19). Results The results showed the obtained data in male and female students at postgraduate level including VO2max (37.4 and 25.3 ml/kg/min), body mass (74 and 58.4 kg), body fat percent (18.9 and 21.7 %), BMI (23.7 and 22.4 kg/m2) and WHR (0.83 and 0.73). An inverse relationship was observed between VO2max with BMI, WHR and body fat percent (P ≤ 0.05). Also, a significant difference was observed between men and women in BMI, WHR, VO2max, body mass and body fat percent (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that postgraduate students are in relatively ideal conditions of body composition, but they are in relatively weak cardiorespiratory fitness. These conditions are more in women who require notification and afterthought