Abstract

Background: It seems that weight gain and body composition changes occur during the first year of college . The aim of this study was the comparison of body composition among freshmen medical sciences students one term after entering Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences , South East of Iran. Materials and Methods: All freshmen medicine (n = 73) and nursing- midwifery students (n = 57) of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences who had registered for the fall of 2013 were participated in this descriptive study. After obtaining written consents from the participants, their demographic information was collected. Then, using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), body composition of all the students was measured and recorded. Data were analyzed using independent two-sample t-test, paired t-test, and Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. Results: The difference between medical and nursing/midwifery students in terms of changes in body fat percentage ( 1.92 ± 2.87 versus -0.29 ± 2.21, respectively ) ( P less-than 0.001) and body water content ( -0.13 ± 1.34 versus 0.35 ± 1.20, respectively) ( P = 0.038) was statistically significant. Moreover, the difference in changes of fat free mass was statistically significant across the two groups (P = 0.026). Body fat percentage had decreased in the native students compared to the nonnatives (P less-than 0.001). The frequency of students with malnutrition and minimum fat percentage criteria had decreased, while it had increased to the recommended range at the end of the first semester. Conclusions: There was a statistically significant difference between medical and nursing/midwifery students in terms of fat percentage, fat free mass, and total body water content. It seems that the differences between the two groups might be because of being native or nonnative students.