An Observational Study to Determine and Compare Effects of Various Physical Test Components on BMI of School Going Children

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the physical fitness components in relation to Body Mass Index of school going children. Study design: Across-sectional observational study. Methods: 100 school going children of 8th and 9th grade were selected to serve as subject for this study. Children were divided into three groups by calculating BMI as per the height and weight of each child, I.e. Low BMI (N=35), Middle BMI (N=35) and High BMI (N=30) groups, which were compared with each other. All the subjects were tested on Curl-up test, Shuttle run test, Sit & Reach test and BMI (Body Mass Index). In order to find out the significance of differences between the three BMI groups of children, mean, standard deviation and p-value were computed. Results: The results of the study revealed significant differences (p<0.05) between Low BMI and High BMI groups in their Curl-up test, Shuttle run test and Sit & Reach test. Conclusion: low BMI group children were found to be better in muscular strength, flexibility and endurance level compared to middle BMI group & high BMI group children.