Workstation Related Anthropometric and Body Composition Parameters of Indian Women of Different Geographical Regions

Background: Anthropometry plays an important role in industrial design, clothing design, ergonomics and architecture where statistical data about the distribution of body dimensions in the population are used to optimize products. Changes in lifestyles, nutrition, and ethnic composition of populations lead to changes in the distribution of body dimensions (e.g. the obesity epidemic), and require regular updating of anthropometric data collections. Aim and Objectives: This study analyzed the variation in anthropometric dimensions and body composition parameters of working women employees of different geographical zones. Material and Methods: The study was undertaken on nine hundred forty (940) women employees of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) working in seventeen different laboratories and belonged to different states of India. The age range of studied women was between 20-60 years. Fourteen body dimensions namely stature, popliteal height, knee height, buttock to popliteal length, hip breadth, waist breadth, shoulder breadth, forearm length, arm length, eye height (sitting), sitting shoulder height, hand length, hand breadth and elbow width were measured in cm using Martin anthropometers and Martin's sliding caliper. Body composition parameters like weight, percentage body fat, fat mass and fat free mass were recorded. Results: All anthropometric parameters were found significantly different (p<0.001). Body composition variables of women were also found significantly different in all three zones but fat free mass was not significantly different. Conclusion: It can be concluded that diet, environmental conditions and living style of different regions can influence the anthropometry and body composition of Workstation Related Anthropometric and Body Composition Parameters of Indian Women of Different Geographical Regions 1* 1 1 1 Inderjeet Singh , Shweta Rawat , Lalhmunlien Robert Varte and Dhurjati Majumdar Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organization, Lucknow Road, Timarpur-110054 (Delhi) India the individuals, however the influence of ethnic, genetic and hereditary factor are not controlled in this study.