Body disabling chronic hemiparesis does not appear to determine differences in the body mass index when compared to able-bodied controls

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: (a) To compare the Body Mass Index between hemiparetic (disabled-bodied) patients vs. matched able-bodied controls, establishing relationships between Body Mass Index and the anthropometric variables (weight and height) used to calculate it; (b) to determine whether the Body Mass Index could be used as a disability indicator. METHODS: Twenty hemiparetic patients were matched by gender and age to twenty control subjects. All of them were included in procedures to measure the anthropometric parameters used to calculate Body Mass Index. The data were submitted to statistical procedures. RESULTS: The hemiparetic group did not present significant difference in the Body Mass Index when compared with controls, despite the fact that controls were 5.5 cm taller. From the variables used to calculate Body Mass Index, only weight presented a significant correlation to the index for both groups. CONCLUSION: Significant differences in the Body Mass Index were not observed between groups. Moreover, for both groups, the index was only associated with body mass. Our results show that Body Mass Index is not a good parameter to establish relationships with disability indicators for disable-bodied patients.