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Correlation between Quality of Life Related Variables and Body Mass Index in Biology Students

Queila da Costa Rodrigues, Cláudio Joaquim Borba-Pinheiro, Lucélio Silveira-Júnior and André Walsh-Monteiro

Background: To determine the association between the Quality of Life (QoL) related variables and Body Mass Index (BMI) of the students in a biology course of a Federal Educational Institution of Brazil.

Methods: The QoL variables and BMI analysis was evaluated in 28 students of Full Degree in Biology course from the Federal Institute of Pará, separated in two groups: Female; n=21, 23.2 ± 3.3 years old and Male; n=7, 26.5 ± 4.4 years old. The values of weight and height to identify BMI and to assessment QoL by SF-36 questionnaire were used. The data obtained were subjected to statistical procedures, descriptive, and inferential statistics with the Pearson correlation test according to the normality of the data.

Results: The analysis identified high positive correlation between the variables of QoL related to Male group: Physical Health vs. Total score (r=0.91, p=0.004), Mental Health vs. Total score (r=0.93, p=0.002), and in Female group: Physical Health vs. Total score (r=0.89, p<0.0001), Mental Health vs. Total score (r=0.92, p<0.0001). In addition, to correlations: Physical Health vs. Mental (r=0.68, p=0.0006) in the Female group and also a negative correlation between BMI vs. Physical Health (r=-0.81, p=0.027) in Male group.

Conclusion: In this study, we found correlations between measures of BMI and physical health in men. In addition, correlations between QoL variables for both men as for women were verified.