Abstract

Background: There is an increasing trend of obesity and it affects the physical fitness and person’s work output in medical students. VO max indicates person’s cardiovascular fitness. Aims and Objectives: (i) To evaluate the association 2 between body mass index (BMI) and VO max by nonexercise test using NASA/Johnson Space Centre physical activity- 2 rating (PA-R) scale in medical students. (ii) To evaluate the effect of the gender on VO max. (iii) To compare VO max 2 2 in obese and nonobese students.
Materials and Methods: A total of 98 medical students aged between 17 and 19 years belonging to both the genders, were included for the study. The NASA/Johnson Space Centre PA-R scale was used for nonexercise protocol. VO max was calculated taking into account subjects PA-R score, his BMI and gender: (i) Equation 2 for male students: VO max (ml/kg/min) = 67.350 – (0.381 × age [years]) – (0.754 × BMI) + (1.951 × PA-R), (ii) Equation 2 for female students: VO max (ml/kg/min) = 56.363 – (0.381 × age [years]) – (0.754 × BMI) + (1.951 × PA-R). Statistical 2 analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation to know the association between BMI and VO max.
Results: The 2 correlation factor for association between BMI and VO max was significantly negative (P < 0.001). The values of VO 2 2 max were more in male gender and nonobese group. Conclusion: Increasing BMI affects the VO max reducing the 2 person’s cardiovascular fitness. Lifestyle modification should be adapted to keep the check on BMI and to improve the cardiovascular fitness.