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

Abstract

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/m 2) and WHR (0.83 and 0.73). An