Investigation of factors related to Body Mass Index Underweight, Overweight and Obesity prevalence among university students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine student body mass and categories it into a grid whether they are underweight, normal body weight, obese or extremely obese. This study was carried out to first year Physical Education University student in Zambezi region of Namibia. A total number of 208 students 46.6% (n = 97) female participants and 53.3% (n =111) male participants, between the ages range of 18 - 37 partook in this study. The data of the study were gathered with the "Student Body Mass Index calculation form" Bathroom scale with 0.1 sensitivity and a static vertical measuring tape.According to the results of current study; (n =26) 12, 5% of university students were found to be underweight, (n = 61) 29,3% were found to have normal bodyweight, (n = 106) 51% were found to be overweight and (n = 15) 7.2% were found to be obese. Although the frequency of being underweight, overweight and obese show higher scores in female participants compared to male. Despite female dominance in 3 BMI grids, male participants scored higher records under normal bodyweight than female by 41% over female’s 21%. Overweight and obese results in all genders are a severe risk to student’s health.