Central obesity in male university students from Manabí, Ecuador.

Obesidad central en estudiantes universitarios

Abstract

Introduction. University students represent a sector at risk due to changes in their eating habits and lifestyle. Objective. To evaluate the presence of central obesity in male students of the Physical Activity and Sports Pedagogy Degree of the Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Ecuador Material and methods. Descriptive observational research on 165 students. Anthropometric measurements were taken following the ISAK protocol, with calculation of body mass index, determination of cardiometabolic risk, fat percentage, conicity index and intra-abdominal fat area. Results The subjects under study presented a mean age of 22.68±4.56 years with mean values of height 1.68±0.08 m and weight 70.17±12.03 kg, mean abdominal circumference did not indicate a cardiometabolic risk status. The BMI reached an average of 24.67±3.48; according to the %GC the most prevalent values were in the optimal condition with 58.8% and slightly overweight with 33.9%. The application of the ROC(AUC) curve to the taper index yielded an area under the curve value of 0.537 and range from 45.5% to 61.6%. Discussion.  Central overweight and obesity are present as a consequence of the distribution of body fat according to the androgynous model. The values obtained for BMI and %GC show contradictions and a tendency to normal weight obesity. The CI does not constitute a model for discrimination of subjects with cardiometabolic risk. Conclusions. Among the students there is excess weight and central obesity, and a tendency to normal weight obesity, in them the conicity index does not allow discrimination of subjects with cardiometabolic risk according to abdominal obesity.