Association Of Handgrip Strength With Body Mass Index Among Nigerian Students.

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to study the relationship between handgrip strength with body mass index in 400 randomly selected Secondary School Students in Kano metropolis, Nigeria. The students were from Two Secondary Schools and were aged between 14-18 years with mean age of 16.00±1.35. Various anthropometric variables studied include, the height, weight, BMI, hand width and length, upper and lower arm length, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and handgrip strength were measured using standard anthropometric measurement techniques. The results show that male students had higher mean values in height (16.00±1.35kg), weight (46.34±8.30cm), hand length (19.34±0.98cm), hand width (10.45±0.90cm), forearm length (27.93±1.92cm), arm length (31.93±2.46cm) and handgrip strength (35.63±17.17), while having lower mean values in BMI (17.45±2.30) and MUAC (24.23±2.26cm). Male students had a higher mean handgrip strength which is significantly correlated (P≤0.01) with all the variables studied while female students had handgrip strength with a significant positive correlation (P≤0.01) with some of the variables. It may be concluded that handgrip strength had strong positive correlations with all the anthropometric variables associated with BMI in Nigerian Secondary School Students of Kano metropolis. Keywords: