EVALUATION OF COMPONENTS OF ENERGY EXPENDITURE IN INDIAN PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Background and Objectives: Energy expenditure (EE) is the total energy cost of maintaining homeostasis. Therefore, it is important to adjust the individual’s nutritional supply and physical activities. Numerous studies suggest evaluation of energy expenditure in various Caucasian and few studies in Asian population. However there is dearth of literature relating to evaluation of components of energy expenditure in Indian physiotherapy student population. Hence, the present study was taken up to evaluate EE in terms of basal metabolic rate, resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of exercise, total daily calorie expenditure in Indian physiotherapy students and to find the correlation between anthropometric measurements and components of EE. Materials and methodology: A total of 100 Physiotherapy students who participated were subjected to anthropometric measurements (BMI, waist-hip ratio). Energy expenditure was calculated using Harris-Benedict’s and Mifflin’s equation. RMR and TEE were also calculated as per FAO guidelines. Results: Miffin’s equation demonstrated statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between normal, overweight and obese students. However, using Harris Benedict equation showed no statistically difference (p=0.164) between overweight and obese group. Also when compared Miffin to gold standard equation (i.e Harris Benedict),it was found that Miffin was more accurate among nonobese students. RMR, TEE and TDCE (r=0.677, r=0.512, r=0.609) respectively were highly significant (p?0.05) when compared between normal BMI, overweight and obese students. There was a positive correlation between the components of EE and the anthropometric measurements Conclusion: This pilot study concludes that Miffin’s equation demonstrated a strong positive correlation among all the three groups as compared to Harris Benedict equation and may be considered as an accurate equation among all the three groups in Indian physiotherapy student population.