Comparisons of physical fitness and body composition among Sasang types with and without body mass index as a covariate

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine the difference of physical fitness and body composition among Sasang types with BMI as covariate, which is reported to have influence on physical fitness and body composition. METHODS We measured the physical fitness and body composition of 930 korean female college students, and compared the differences among Sasang type groups with or without considering Body Mass Index (BMI). We evaluated muscle strength, agility, muscle endurance, power and flexibility for the physical fitness, and total body water, protein, muscle mass, mineral, lean body mass and fat mass for the body composition. RESULTS We got 352 So-Yang (SY), 385 So-Eum (SE), and 193 Tae-Eum (TE) Sasang types, and there were significant differences among Sasang types in height, weight and BMI. The significant differences among TE and SY types were disappeared in muscle strength, total body water, protein when BMI is used as a covariate. In ANOVA, there were significant differences that TE was higher on the mineral and fat mass compared to the SY type and SE type. However it disappeared when we introduced BMI as covariate. CONCLUSION The results demonstrated that the BMI should be considered as an important element for studying physical characteristics of Sasang typology.