Introduction

One of the subjects of interest for the specialists in health, medicine and sports sciences is the changing anthropometric characteristics of the individuals as they grow older.    While the formers scrutinize the change for the health purposes, the later are interested to closely monitor the changes as they may be associated with sport performance in the field of competitions.  Measuring anthropometric characteristics of athletes is an important index for evaluating their physical fitness (1). Weight and height are two important factors that are commonly used in identifying underweight, overweight, and obesity.  The changes in body mass index and other characteristics of the athletes are the subject of some studies (2).    While some researchers are interested in physical fitness of the athletes (3), others focus on the body weight control or injuries (4, 5).    Goodpaster (1997) regards BMI=19.06 as a criterion for masculinity and the ratio of 40 and above as an index of excessive obesity (6).   Jett (1993) identified BMI within the range 27-29.9 as overweight and above this range as obese (7).  Lee (1997) claimed that BMI can be successfully used to predict VO2 max which is a very reliable estimate of cardiovascular fitness (8). Lukhanen (1992) demonstrated that there was a significant relation between VO2 max and BMI in certain age groups (9).  Sayyah and associates (2011) conducted a research examining the relationship between the anthropometric characteristics of female athletes and the frequency of injury in the competitions of female athletes. The results of this research showed a significant difference between the mean value of BMI of the injured and non-injured athletes (10).  Huang reported that BMI significantly and differentially influenced individual fitness tests, but effects varied with age and sex. Higher BMIs were generally associated with lower fitness (11).   Katya and associates (2010) showed that youth BMI was positively associated with general health (12).    Considering the significance of Body Mass Index in health and fitness, this study was designed for two purposes: first to  determine the anthropometric index of male student athlete participating in sport Olympiad of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education; second, to determine whether significant change occur in anthropometric indices such as weight and height since they are the important variable that  determine BMI,  an important index that under certain circumstances is considered as a risk factors for health.

Methods and materials

Data were collected during the two weeks of competitions. Seca model scales made in Germany equipped with adjustable height bar were employed to measure the height and weight of athletes.  The measurements were conducted during the events by referring to the arena or by transferring the scales to the residential place where the athletes were residing during the events.  Prior to participating in the measurement,  every athlete was asked to complete a question form containing demographic data such as age, name, and other information and then take his shoes and warm-up suit off.  Then, he was asked to step on the surface of the scale face up to the researcher in such a way that his back was straight and parallel to the height bar.  At this point, the researcher adjusted the height bar to the top of the head of the subject that was in full standing position. The reading from the height bar was recorded as the height of the subject for measuring the weight, the weight gauge indicating the weight of the subject was recorded as the weight of the subject. Following the completion of the data collection, statistical analysis was performed on data using SPSS 12.0. The variable of Body Mass Index was calculated by the formula:

W (kg)/ H squared (m)

Results

A total of 840 male athlete students from different medical universities participated in this project.  The results of analysis are presented in table 1 to 3.  The results showed that the means for age, weight, height, and BMI were 23.72±3.51yr, 69.16±9.43kg, 175.72±6.62cm and 22.38±2.59kgm2, respectively.   Kolmogrove-smirinov test confirmed the normality of the variables; therefore, parametric statistical procedure was applied to analyze the data. The results of ANOVA test showed that there was a significant increase in mean values of BMI and weight of the athletes (p<0.05).  However no such increase was present for the height variable.   Scheffe post hoc test showed that the  significant difference was present between the BMI of  the  age group 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 compared to the age groups 23 and higher ( p<0.05).  No significant differences was found between the BMI of the age group 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 (p>0.05).  Similar results were found for the weight of the subjects.  That is,  significant difference was present between the  weight  of  the  age group 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 compared to the age groups 23 and higher ( p<0.05).  No significant differences was found between the weight of the age group 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 (p>0.05).  However, no significant differences was found between the height of the age groups (p>0.05).     Pearson correlation coefficient was used to test the association between weight, height and age (table 4). The association between the weight and age; weight and height were significant (P<0.05).

Table 1 : Comparing the Body Mass Index of the athletes according to age.

Table 2 :  Comparing the weight of the athletes according to age

Table 3 : Comparing  the height of  the athletes according to age.

Table 4: One-way Analysis of variance comparing BMI, weight and height of the athletes.

*wt stands for weight

*ht stands for height

Table 5: Correlation matrix of weight, height, age. and BMI of athlete students.

Figure 1: Frequency distribution of age groups.   Click here to View figure

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of BMI according to the  age groups.   Click here to View figure

Results and Conclusion

In this research, the anthropometric indices of the male athletes were examined.  The results of analysis showed that the BMI and weight of the athletes did increase from age 18 onward.  This increase was not statistically significant up to the age 23. However, after this age, the increase was statistically significant.  Similar findings were observed when analyzing the weight.  Such parity of increase is predictable since BMI is the function of   weight and height.   The size of height reaches its peak during these years and insignificant changes may occur after the age 18 as it was observed in this research.   Many researchers have presented height and weight changes in their attempt to show the changes in height and weight, thus examining the the association between these variables and physical activities (16).

The increases in BMI beyond 25 may be an indication of loss of physical fitness and is regarded as a health risk factor.   Numerous studies  have assessed body mass index  in order to evaluate the health condition of individuals (12-15). These studies demonstrate that body mass index is an important factor to judge the likelihood of success as well as injury in athletes ( 13, 15 ).

The relationship between the BMI and weight permits the alteration of BMI to an ideal level to avoid the chance of injury to lesser degree and get in better shape to participate in sport competitions. By participation in various forms of physical activity, it is possible to reduce weight and BMI quantity.  The student athletes in this research showed an increasing trend in their BMI value approaching the border beyond which they may be considered as overweight and face a health risk factor. Therefore, based on the results of this research, it is suggested the coaches and individuals in charge of preparing the student athletes for competitions to monitor the weight of their athletes prior to the start of competitions.

References

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