Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Jan;15(1):31-6.

Body composition and hand grip strength in male brick-field workers

Amit Bandyopadhyay  1
Affiliations

Body composition and hand grip strength in male brick-field workers

Amit Bandyopadhyay. Malays J Med Sci. 2008 Jan.

Abstract

Ninety two male brickfield workers and sixty sedentary individuals of 25-45 years were randomly selected from brickfields of West Bengal, India, to evaluate the body composition and hand grip strength among male brickfield workers and to compare the data with their sedentary counterparts. Assessment of body composition by skinfold measurements and determination of hand grip strength (HGS) by hand grip dynamometer indicated significantly higher (p<0.001) fatness, skinfold values and body mass index (BMI) among the sedentary individuals though HGS and hand grip endurance were significantly higher (p<0.001) among brickfield workers. BMI and %fat values indicated that the subjects were non-obese and non-overweight and regression norms for prediction of %fat from BMI in both the groups were computed as follows : Control Group : Y = 1.647 X - 22.789 (r = 0.92, p<0.001, SEE = 1.01), Brick-field Workers : Y = 0.747 X - 8.398 (r = 0.78, p<0.001, SEE = 1.34). Percentage of lean body mass (%LBM) was significantly higher (p<0.001) among brickfield workers whereas absolute LBM value had insignificant variation because of significant difference (p<0.001) in body mass between the groups. The present investigation revealed that the daily labour of the brick-field workers hindered the accumulation of body fat and extensive use of their hand and finger muscles enabled them to achieve greater arm strength. The proposed norms for prediction of %fat from BMI will also provide a first-hand impression about the body composition in the studied population.

Keywords: %fat; BMI; Brickfield workers; hand grip strength.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1 :
Figure 1 :
Hand grip strength among brick-field workers and control subjects during different times of day’s work (all the subjects were right-handed)
Figure 2 :
Figure 2 :
Regression norms for prediction of % fat from BMI in male brick-field workers and control group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Park JE, Park K. Environment and Health. In: Hamilton P, editor. Text book of Preventive and Social Medicine. 12th Ed. New Delhi: Banarsidas Bhanot; 1989. pp. 357–372.
    1. Bandyopadhyay A, Chatterjee S. Body composition, morphological characteristics and their relationship with cardiorespiratory fitness. Ergonomics SA. 2003;15:19–27.
    1. Kruger HS, Margetts BM, Vorster HH. Nutrition. Evidence for relatively greater subcutaneous fat deposition in stunted girls in the North West Province, South Africa, as compared with non-stunted girls. South Afr J Sci. 2004;20:564–569. - PubMed
    1. Chatterjee S, Chatterjee P, Bandyopadhyay A. Skinfold thickness, body fat percentage and body mass index in obese and non-obese Indian boys. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15:232–235. - PubMed
    1. Chatterjee S, Chatterjee P, Bandyopadhyay A. Cardiorespiratory fitness of obese boys. Indian J Physiol & Pharmacol. 2005;49:353–357. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources