Mental health and anthropometric indicators in university students of health sciences, Lima-Perú

Introduction: Mental health includes social, psychological and emotional well-being, and any imbalance of this generates limitations in physical, personal, community and socioeconomic development, while anthropometric indicators are important body measurements for the determination of nutritional status.Objective: To identify the relationship between mental health and anthropometric indicators in university students of a private university in Lima-Peru. Material and methods: The sample consisted of 128 university students of health sciences (physical therapy and rehabilitation, nutrition and dietetics) of both sexes, with an average age of 24 years. Anthropometric measurements of weight (kg), height (cm), circumferences (cm) and skinfolds (mm) were taken. Body mass index, waist hip index and body fat percentage were evaluated. Mann-Whitney U and Spearman's Rho statistical tests were performed. Results: Body mass index was 43% normal followed by 42.2% overweight. 57.8% of the students had a waist-to-hip ratio with very low cardiovascular risk, 22.7% had low cardiovascular risk and 19.5% had a high cardiovascular risk. In the percentage of fat, 71.9% was normal, followed by 18.8% with a low level. Regarding mental health, a relationship was identified between depression, anxiety and stress with body mass index (p= 0.010) and fat percentage (p= 0.002). Females presented a higher percentage of fat than males (p=0.001), regarding waist hip index, males presented a higher value than females (p=0.001).Conclusions: It is concluded that there is a relationship between mental health with body mass index and body fat percentage.