title: Preaccession fitness and body composition as predictors of attrition in U.S. Army recruits.
abstract: The Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength (ARMS) project evaluated whether active duty Army enlistees who exceeded weight and body-fat standards but were able to pass the ARMS physical fitness test were at elevated risk of early attrition relative to the traditional recruit population. Attrition among 1146 overweight and overbody-fat (OBF) recruits who passed ARMS was compared to 10,514 fully qualified (FQ) recruits who began service in February 2005 through September 2006. The ARMS test includes a 5-minute step test and a 1-minute pushup test. There were no significant differences in attrition between OBF and FQ at 180 days: adjusted hazard ratios were 1.17 (95% CI: 0.83, 1.65) among females and 1.23 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.58) among males. This study indicates that physically fit recruits who exceeded weight/body-fat standards were equally capable of serving at least 180 days compared to those who met standards.
authors.affiliation: Accession Medical Standards Analysis and Research Activity, Division of Preventive Medicine, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Niebuhr
authors.forename: Christine T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Yuanzhang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Sheryl A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bedno
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Timothy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Powers
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity; D050177:Overweight; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D010809:Physical Fitness; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult