Somatotype of Undergraduate Medical Students of the University of Lagos

Aim: This anthropometric study assessed the morphological characteristics of male (n=65) and female (n=48) undergraduate medical students of the University of Lagos.

Methodology: Subjects were aged 18-29 years, with male mean age 23.6 ± 3.3 and female mean age of 22.7 ± 3.4. Stature, body mass, arm girth, calf girth, biepicondylar humerus breath, biepicondylar femur breath, triceps, subscapular, supraspinale and medial calf skinfolds were measured using standardized equipments and procedures to determine the somatotypes of subjects, according to the Heath-Carter anthropometric method. Data was analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics. The probability level for rejection of null hypothesis was 0.05.

Results: Mean male endomorphy was 2.5 ± 1.0, mesomorphy 4.0 ± 1.7 and ectomorphy 2.8 ± 1.2. Female mean endomorphy was 4.6 ± 1.2, mesomorphy 3.9 ± 1.9 and ectomorphy 2.0 ± 1.2. Male somatotypes are clustered around mesomorphy with 24.6% endomorphic mesomorph, 23.1% balance mesomorph and 13.9% ectomorphic mesomorph. 25.0% of the females were mesomorphic endomorph, 20.8% mesomorph endomorph and 20.8% endomorphic mesomorph.

Conclusion: The results also suggest that for non-obese apparently healthy youths, anthropometry provides a better estimate of body fatness than body mass index (BMI).