Does bmi affect academic performance? study among undergraduate medical students of Saudi Arabia and India Almarshad Feras1, Mohammed Bhilal B2,* 1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia 2Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia *Corresponding e-mail: dr_beo@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 1 October, 2020. Abstract Objective To study whether BMI as a single influencing factor has any impact on college student academic performance. Methods 540 (214 females, 326 males) university-level undergraduate medical students from the region of India and Saudi Arabia were studied for one year. Their BMI was calculated and compared with academic aggregate marks. Results The majority of the students had normal BMI. On comparing grades of underweight, overweight, and obese students with normal weight students we found that there was no significant difference in their academic performance (p=0.899). Gender-wise comparison also showed an insignificant relationship between BMI and academic performance (females p=0.539, males p=0.622). Conclusion Weight did not show any influence on academic performance when the BMI alone is compared with the academic performance of the students for a short duration (one year), irrespective of gender (male/female). Top Keywords BMI, Academic performance, University students, India, Saudi Arabia. Top |