Association between Obesity Risk Knowledge and Body Mass Index among Sport Students

• Published in: Lecture Notes in Bioengineering
• Main Author: Rozzaini A.N.; Rahman F.A.; Halim N.A.A.; Ilias N.F.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2023
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85169004763&doi=10.1007%2f978-981-99-2162-1_8&partnerID=40&md5=5dfab4da5291b8d5ae7433af0ce2987d

Knowledge about the health risks of obesity is crucial in motivating a person to practice a healthier lifestyle and aid in preventing adverse health effects of non-communicable diseases (NCD) caused by obesity. However, the association between knowledge and obesity rate among students was inconclusive. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between the knowledge of the risk of obesity and body mass index (BMI) among Sports Science and Recreation (FSR) students. The correlational study involved n = 436 students from FSR. The obesity risk knowledge-10 scale (ORK-10) questionnaire was used to measure the level of knowledge on the risk of obesity, and BMI was used as an indicator of the obesity rate. A total of 257 (58.9%) male and 189 (43.3%) female students participated voluntarily in this study, with a minimum ORK score of 0, and the maximum score was 10. The results showed that the mean score for knowledge was 4.77 ± 1.60, and the mean for BMI was 22.77 ± 4.14. There was no association between knowledge of the risk of obesity and obesity rate among sports students, r (436) = 0.003, p > 0.05. These results showed that the students had poor knowledge of the risk of obesity but a normal BMI. Thus, knowledge of the risk of obesity does not influence the obesity rate among sports students. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.