The Relationship between Anthropometric Indices and Cardiovascular Fitness in Army Cadets

Background and Aim: Cardiovascular fitness is considered as an important indicator of health so that there is a clear relationship between the level of cardiovascular fitness and risk factors for heart disease. This indicator can be measured objectively and accurately by running. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anthropometric indices and cardiovascular fitness in army cadets. Methods: The subjects of the study were 580 students from University of Imam Ali Military University of Iran (mean age 21.3±1.03, BMI 22.5±2.38), which are selected by random sampling. The anthropometric characteristics of the subjects include (Body fat mass (BFM), fat-free mass (FFM), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat (PBF), total body water (TBW), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and metabolic rate (BMR) were measured by (in body 220) and 3200-meters running test standard in a 400 meters’ track as indicator of cardiovascular fitness. Testing performed each day during specified hours, every day at 4 to 6 pm. In order to analyze the results of multivariate regression analysis and Pearson correlation test was used. Results: The results showed that there was no relationship between running with age, WHtR and Chest variables (P <0.05), but there was a significant positive relationship between running with height, BFM, FMM, weight, SMM, BMI, PBF, WHR, BMR and Wast variables (P = 0.001). Conclusion: According to the results, monitoring of anthropometric indices may be a suitable criterion for estimating cardiovascular fitness in army cadets.