Bone mass and body composition in college students

To compare bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition (BC) of college students with different lifestyles.

Transversal study with 85 students of Medicine (MED) and Physical Education (PE) at the Universidade Regional de Blumenau, SC, Brazil. The anthropometric, socio-demographic, clinical, and lifestyle variables were obtained through densitometric anamnesis and densitometric variables by dual-energy X-ray (DXA). The statistical tests used were: Student's t-test, Chi-square test, and logistic regression.

PE male students showed a higher amount of lean body mass (79.5 ± 5.9 vs. 75.1 ± 5.3; p = 0.03) and a lower amount of body fat (16.7 ± 6.1 vs. 21.6 ± 5.6; p = 0.02) and PE female students showed a higher amount of lean body mass (68.2 ± 5.5 vs. 65.3 ± 5.5; p = 0.05). The BMD of the neck of femur (NOF), total femur (TF), and total body (TB) was higher in PE students of both genders. PE students practiced more physical activities than MED students. Low bone mass (LBM) was more frequent in MED students (34.9% vs. 4.7%; p = 0.001), provided that the risk of a MED student to show LBM was nine times higher for lumbar spine (LS), five times for NOF, eight times for TF, and seven times for TB.

BC and BMD were different among the students; MED students have shown a higher risk of having LBM, and PE students practiced more physical activities.