Kumar A, Ramiah S
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Nepal Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ). 2005 Oct-Dec;3(4):345-8.
Body mass index is a valuable tool to assess the nutritional status of an individual. It can be used to identify subjects who are underweight and obese. The present study was conducted with a view to identify the prevalence of underweight and obesity among Nepalese medical students. The study also detects the body frame size of these medical students by elbow breadth measurements.
To measure Body mass index and body frame size based on elbow breadth measurements.
A total of 191 (males, 106) students participated in the study. The ratio of male to female was 1.24:1. The elbow breadth was measured by a vernier caliper (Tajima, Japan) to the nearest 0.1 mm. The body mass index (kg/m2) (BMI) was calculated using the height and weight measurements taken previously. Body frame size was obtained using a table based on elbow width. Data were analyzed using Microsoft excel for Windows 98.
The study reveals that the prevalence of underweight and overweight in males of Nepal Medical college Vth batch were 30% and 1% and of IVth batch were 23.2% and 12.15% respectively. Of the females 38.6% and 2.2% of the IVth batch and 36.6% and 4.9% of the Vth batch were underweight and overweight respectively. The body frame size results indicted that 70% of the males and 61% of the females had small body frame. The study revealed a significant degree of under nutrition in male (26.4%) and female (20%) of Nepalese medical students.
The present study observed that majority of the medical students of the Nepal Medical College were of small body frame size.
体重指数是评估个体营养状况的一项重要工具。它可用于识别体重过轻和肥胖的人群。本研究旨在确定尼泊尔医学生中体重过轻和肥胖的患病率。该研究还通过测量肘宽来检测这些医学生的体型大小。
基于肘宽测量来测定体重指数和体型大小。
共有191名学生（男性106名）参与了本研究。男女比例为1.24:1。使用游标卡尺（日本田岛牌）测量肘宽，精确到最接近的0.1毫米。利用之前测量的身高和体重计算体重指数（千克/平方米）（BMI）。根据肘宽使用表格确定体型大小。数据使用适用于Windows 98的Microsoft excel进行分析。
该研究表明，尼泊尔医学院第五批男性学生中体重过轻和超重的患病率分别为30%和1%，第四批分别为23.2%和12.15%。第四批女性学生中体重过轻和超重的比例分别为38.6%和2.2%，第五批分别为36.6%和4.9%。体型大小结果显示，70%的男性和61%的女性体型较小。该研究表明，尼泊尔医学生中男性（26.4%）和女性（20%）存在显著程度的营养不良。
本研究观察到，尼泊尔医学院的大多数医学生体型较小。
