Anthropometry, physical activity practice and smoking among under graduate students iin health care programs at a Brazilian university

Transition from adolescence to adulthood is a phase replete with modifications which may affect an individual’s health in the future. This study aimed at comparing the anthropometric profile of students in the programs of Nutrition (AN), Medicine (AM), Nursing (ANu), Biology (AB) and Biological Sciences for Medicine (ABM) at a Brazilian university. Ninety-five studetns were recruited for participation. Their weight, height and abdominal circumference were measured, and their body fat percentage (BFP) was assessed by electrical bioimpedance. The BMI classification values (OMS, 1997) were used, and the criteria of Lohman et al., (1992) were applied for BFP. The students defined themselves as sedentary or physically active and as smokers or non-smokers. One-way analysis of variance was performed with the F test to detect anthropometric differences between the programs, with Tukey’s multiple comparison test. According to BMI, 90.9% of AN, 88.23% of AM, 65.39% of ANu, 100% of AB and 73.34% of ABM were classified as eutrophic;  4.54% of AN, 30.77% of Anu and 26.66% of ABM were classified as overweight; 4.54% of AN, 11.77% of AM and 3.84% of ANu were found to be low-weight. No cases of obesity were observed. As regards BFP, 50% of AN, 41.17% of AM, 73.07% of ANu, 50% of AB and 40% of ABM showe above-average levels. Mean abdominal circumference of AN was 73.38 ± 4.38 cm, 74.18 ± 6.04 cm for AM, 76.73 ± 7.6 cm for ANu, 68.23 ± 5.12 cm for AB and 73.63 ± 10.6 cm for ABM. Concerning physical activity, 68.19% of AN, 52.25% of AM, 53.85% of ANu, 87.5% of AB and 93.33% of ABM were sedentary. Smoking was reported by 11.1% of ANu. The differences found between the groups were significant (F test  - p=0.001477). Most of the studetns showed normal weight, but high BFP and sedentariness.