Relationship between body mass index and agility of female undergraduates in Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Background & Aim: Agility is the ability to change direction quickly. Main factors influencing a person’s agility are speed, strength, coordination, balance and body type. Body type is more commonly known as body mass index (BMI). The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of agility with height, weight and BMI among female undergraduates in Sri Lanka.Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on a sample of 96 female undergraduates of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka selected by non-probability sampling. Agility was measured using 4 x 10m shuttle run test. Data was analysed using relevant descriptive and inferential statistics on SPSS version 23. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.Results: The mean age of the study sample was 23.69 (standard deviation [SD]=1.348) years. Mean BMI was 21.2(SD=3.87) kg/m2 and mean 4 x 10 m shuttle run test completion time (agility time) was 15.91(SD=1.62) seconds. Statistically significant positive correlation was present between weight and agility (r=0.394, p<0.001) and BMI and agility (r=0.396, p<0.001). There was no significant correlation between height and agility (r=0.050, p=0.630).Conclusions & Recommendations: A weak but significant positive correlation was found between both BMI and agility, and weight and agility, among female undergraduates indicating that higher BMI and body weight are associated with lower agility levels. In contrast, no significant relationship was observed between height and agility, suggesting that height does not have a measurable impact on agility in this population.