Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan 2012)
A Comparative Study of Physical Fitness among Rural Farmers and Urban Sedentary Group of Gulbarga District
Abstract
Introduction: Body mass index (BMI) is one of the factor that determines health of an individual being over fat or having a higher than desirable content of fat that has a negative effect on person’s health. The impact of either excess or less body fat is detrimental to health. Modern life styles have reduced physical activity in urban population in comparison with rural population. Exercise stress test is a valuable tool for evaluating physical fitness of an individual. Hence, the current study was designed to evaluate the comparative physical fitness between rural farmers and their urban sedentary counterpart in Gulbarga district. Materials & Methods: The study included 30 apparently healthy male rural farmers and 30 urban sedentary subjects in the age group of 20 to 30 years belonging to Gulbarga district. Anthropometric measurements were recorded, body mass index (BMI) was calculated, pre and post exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP),diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure(MAP), heart rate (HR), peak exercise HR, post exercise HR were recorded and percent recovery heart rate( % RHR) in beats per minute (BPM) of both groups was calculated. Results: The BMI was significantly lower (p<0.05) in rural farmer group compared to urban sedentary group. We found a significant increase of pre SBP (p<0.05), pre MAP (p<0.05), post SBP (p<0.001), post DBP (p<0.05), post PP (p<0.05), and post MAP (p<0.001) in urban sedentary group compared to rural farmer group. Peak HR (p<0.001), 1 min Post HR (p<0.001) was significantly decreased in rural farmer group. But % RHR (p<0.001) and PFI Score (p<0.001) were found to be significantly increased in rural farmer group compared to urban sedentary group. We found a negative correlation between BMI and % recovery heart rate, BMI and PFI Score in rural farmer group compared to urban sedentary group. Conclusion: The rural farmer group had lower BMI and less increase in peak heart rate, faster heart rate recovery after exercise, increase in PFI Score and increase in % RHR as compared to urban sedentary group. Results show a greater cardiovascular efficiency of rural farmer group of Gulbarga District of Karnataka as compared to their urban sedentary counterpart.
