Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the body physique and its association with BMI among school going boys of Rajasthan.
Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 240 boys of Dangi community of Udaipur belonging to the age group 10 to 17 years were studied for their body physique. All the anthropometric measurements were taken according to the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). The Heath-Carter method of somatotyping was used to study body physique and IOTF recommended cut-off points were used to assess BMI in children. Data was analyzed using MS-Excel and Statistical Package SPSS (IBM) version 20. Somatotype dispersion distances, Mean somatotype dispersion, Standard deviation of somatotype dispersion distance have been calculated. Somatochart was also plotted for the body physique of the population.
Results: The result of the study revealed that the body physique varied from mesomorphic-ectomorph to balanced ectomorph across the various age groups. Majority of the population falls into the underweight category. Positive correlations were observed between BMI and the endomorphic and mesomorphic components whereas negative correlation was observed with the ectomorphic component.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that the school going boys of Rajasthan are predominantly ectomorphic. The tendency towards higher ectomorphic component and prevalence of underweight among the boys could be the result of caloric inadequacy in their diets. Follow-up studies on larger sample size should be conducted and relation of body physique with body composition can be a further target of intervention among growing boys.